


Accidental Marriage

by pcworth



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/F, Marriage
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-25
Updated: 2015-06-25
Packaged: 2018-04-06 03:32:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 37
Words: 67,855
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4206354
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pcworth/pseuds/pcworth
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An off-hand remark from Emma results in her marriage to Regina, but can the two women make it last?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

After things in Storybrooke settled down and Regina and Emma began to be on speaking terms following the Robin-Marian debacle, they began to explore custody options for Henry. Since he wasn’t born in Storybrooke, it required them to travel beyond the borders into the “real world” to deal with a family court there.

Emma had argued that they could have handled it in Storybrooke but Regina was afraid, despite Emma’s assurances, that given her history with the populace she wouldn’t be afforded custody rights to Henry. Emma, of course was worried in the real world – despite Regina’s assurances – that she wouldn’t be afforded rights since she had given Henry up.

The result once they got started turned out to be drawn out affair. It required several trips, one overnight stay where they were forced to share a room due to some major conferences and events booking up every hotel. Emma assured Regina she could find them a place, but Regina asserted she wasn’t going to stay anything less than a three-star establishment.

But finally the day came where they believed they would be able to handle the legal matter of shared custody once and for all. Henry was with them as well. He hadn’t been needed for all of the meetings with the judge, but since this was supposed to be resolved they brought him.  
…  
“There they are,” Snow said as she saw Emma, Henry and Regina pull up outside of Granny’s where she and Charming were waiting on them to see how things went. It had taken some time to get used to the idea that Emma and Regina would be sharing custody, meaning Regina would be sort of like family to them. But shared custody is what Henry wanted and despite all the debate, arguments and discussion, Snow knew Emma and Regina would do what it took to give him what he wanted.

“Regina doesn’t look happy,” Charming said. 

“Emma seems ok, and Henry is smiling, so how bad could it have been,” Snow said as the trio entered.

Henry slid into the booth across from them a smile still on his face. Emma smiled at them, and also slid in next to Henry.

“There is plenty of room, babe,” Emma said, causing Henry to block laughter in the form of a cough. Regina rolled her eyes and pulled up a chair next the table instead. 

“You know I realize that it is entirely my fault that you two didn’t get the opportunity to raise Emma, and for that I will continue to apologize for,” Regina said looking at them. 

“But do you think you could begin teaching her some lessons now – such as how to take things like court hearings more seriously.”

“Did something go wrong at the hearing?” Snow asked Emma.

Emma looked at Regina. “Oh no, they are your parents, dear, you tell them,” Regina said.

“Um, well you see it was sort of an accident …”

“My moms got married,” Henry blurted out.

“What!” Snow and Charming said at the same time.

“Like I said, perhaps your daughter needs to be taught that court hearings are serious matters.”

“What happened?” Charming asked.

“Well, the court hearing was taking so long,” Emma said. “And the judge kept going over and over all these things that we had been over like a hundred times. He asked me if I felt comfortable with proceedings, and well I sort of made a comment that he took a little more seriously than I meant it.”

“What did you say?” Snow asked.

“She said if she knew this was going to be such a long, drawn out affair, she simply would have skipped the whole thing and married me instead,” Regina said. “Which the judge, who clearly doesn’t believe in the concept of joking, said that he had been unaware that Emma and I were involved intimately. And then he began to ask some rather personal questions.”

“He sort of said we would have go to back to the beginning, reschedule for another hearing because if Regina and I were in a relationship then for the benefit Henry that needed to be discussed prior to any agreement.”

“To which your daughter then said if that is the case, ‘let’s just get married.”

“I didn’t think he would say let’s marry you two right then and there,” Emma said.

“Wait, so you two got married by an actual judge?” Charming said.

“Yeah. I got to be the best man,” Henry said beaming at them. 

“Sorry you didn’t have an actual ring to hand to me,” Emma said smiling at him.

“Why are you apologizing to him?” Regina said. 

“What? How often will he get the chance to be the best man at his parent’s wedding?” 

“I can admit when I am wrong, believe it or not,” Regina said. “We should have just stayed here in Storybrooke and handled this. Now we have to get divorced and work out the custody agreement yet again.”

“Why do we got to get divorced?” Emma asked.

“Firstly, it’s ‘why do we have to get divorced?’ and secondly, are you joking, again because that is what got us here in the first place.”

“I don’t know, we did just stand in front of a judge and promise to love, honor and cherish each other til the end of our days,” Emma said.

“Wait, wait,” Snow said. “I’m confused about one thing.”

“Just one?” Charming remarked.

“Why did you say yes?” Snow asked.

And she wasn’t looking at her daughter. Suddenly, all the eyes were on Regina.

“Temporary insanity.”


	2. Chapter 2

“Henry, we should get home,” Regina said.

Emma stood to let Henry out and then she bid goodbye to her parents, who were still staring at the two women trying to figure all of this out. They walked out to Regina’s car,  
Regina wondering why Emma wasn’t staying, as her rooms were there above Granny’s.

“I will talk to my attorney and see about the easiest way to get this handled,” Regina said to her.

Emma waited until Henry got into the car. “We’re married. You make it sound like you are trying to get rid of mold that is growing in your basement,” Emma said.

“Getting rid of mold would be easier,” Regina said.

“You’re cute when you are being all sassy,” Emma smiled.

Regina grabbed her arm and moved her a little farther away from the car. “What do you think you are doing with all of this? This isn’t some game.”

“No, it’s not. And while I really didn’t expect to end up married to you today, at least now you have to deal with me, deal with us.”

“I told you before there is no us.”

“There could be though. Doesn’t that interest you in the least bit?”

Regina turned away and then back. “What interests me is Henry knowing that both of his moms love him and that we can get along for five minutes for his sake and figure out an amicable way to share custody.”

“We can get along for more than five minutes,” Emma said. “In fact we got along for several hours if I remember right. Maybe the issue is we get along better without our clothes.”

“We are not going to talk about that.”

“That’s the problem. You don’t want to talk about it and I do.”

“Yes, and you choose a family court hearing to bring up the subject," Regina said.

“It’s not like Henry was there. We were in the judge’s chamber.”

“Still, did you need to tell the judge that we slept together?”

“He asked. I wasn’t going to lie.”

“It’s no one’s business that we slept together. It happened once.”

“Technically, we didn’t sleep much and the sex certainly happened more than once. I mean I thought I had good stamina, but you, wow, can you blame me for wanting to explore this thing between us?”

“Get it through your head, there is nothing between us. It was just sex. You and I are not marri…”

Emma cut her off my kissing her right then and there on the sidewalk, where people inside of Granny’s could definitely see them, along with anyone else in the area at the time. Regina pulled back though. “Are you crazy?” she asked looking around and seeing Charming and Snow quickly look away as they sat in the diner.

“No. Well, maybe a little, but you tend to make me feel a little crazy, in a good way.”

“I suggest you keep control of any other urges you may have. Good day Miss Swan,” she said walking back to the car.

“It’s actually Mrs. Swan, or Mrs. Mills, or maybe Mrs. Swan-Mills. We should really figure that out.”

Regina gave her a death glare and got into the car.

“Isn’t mom coming with us?” Henry asked.

“No, she isn’t,” Regina said putting the car in gear and pulling away.

Emma walked back into Granny’s, smiling and slid into the booth across from her parents.

“She apparently needs a little more time to get used to the idea of being married,” Emma said.

“Emma, is there something more to this that you want to tell your mom and me?” Charming asked.

She smiled, “I’m in love with her.”  
…

Regina couldn’t believe Emma had done that – kissed her in public. She was beginning to think the younger woman was crazy. What kind of message did she think that sent to their son? This whole thing had gotten out of hand too quickly. She needed to take a step back from it and start figuring a way out of it.

“Did you really not want to marry mom?” Henry asked as they drove home.

“It’s complicated.”

“But you two kissed at the ceremony, and again back there.”

Regina sighed. This is exactly what she was afraid of, Henry getting confused about the situation. “I should have said no to this marriage idea while we were in the judge’s chamber, before we went back into the courtroom.”

“So you didn’t want to marry her?”

Regina didn’t answer, driving the rest of the way in silence. Once home, she directed Henry over to the couch and sat beside him.

“You know your mom and I both love you very much, right?”

“I know.”

“This, all these court hearings have been about both her and I wanting to ensure we have a place in your life no matter what.”

“Why couldn’t you just agree to that without the court?”

“Things just don’t work like that in the adult world.”

“Maybe they should.”

Regina smiled, “it would be nice if they did work that way, but they don’t. My point though is that no matter what happens Emma and I are always going to love you.”

“But you don’t love each other?”

“Marriage, marriage isn’t easy. It’s not enough for two people to love each other; there is more to it than that.”

“Why?”

“I know this is hard for you to understand right now, but … you know about Daniel. How I loved him, and I would have married him, but that didn’t happen. Then I was married and there was no love there. I tried and I failed at it completely and in horrible ways. I never wanted to be married to the king, but I was forced into it by my mother. I swore to myself if I was ever to get married again, it wouldn’t be like that. It would be by my choice.”

“You feel like you were forced to marry Emma?”

“I don’t feel married at all. It’s not enough for your mom to make some joke in front of the judge and for us to get married like that is all it takes. I guess I take marriage a little more seriously and the fact she doesn’t bothers me.”

“I think I understand,” Henry said.

“Do you?”

“Yeah, I think so. When you get married you want it to be for real, all the romance and stuff like on TV where they get down one knee and give you a ring and say nice things and stuff.”

Regina laughed, “sort of. “

“Can I go play video games now?”

“Yes. I will let you know when dinner is ready.”

He went upstairs and Regina went into the kitchen to fix their meal. It had been a long day. She thought about Emma kissing her again. The sheriff certainly knew how to make good use of her mouth when she wasn’t talking.

........  
_They had pulled into the hotel, after much back and forth over where to stay. Regina was insulted that Emma would think she would stay in some motel. They went in, both more than a little irritable._

_“Please tell me you have two rooms,” Regina said._

_The clerk typed into the computer. “We have one but it has two beds.”_

_“We’ll take it,” Emma said. Regina looked at her. “It’s either this or the motel.”_

_“We’ll take it,” Regina said._

_They got up to the room and Emma immediately plopped down on a bed._

_“You should at least take off your shoes if you are going to lay down.”_

_“Ok, mom,” Emma said in fake, cheery voice, before sitting up and taking off her shoes and tossing them against the closet which earned her a look of disapproval. “I can’t believe we have to go back to court in the morning. This whole thing is taking way too long. I bet if we had stayed in Storybrooke we would have been done in a day.”_

_“Yes, and you would have full custody of Henry,” Regina said._

_“I still think you are wrong about that. Besides I wouldn’t have let that happen.”_

_“Forgive me if I don’t exactly have a lot of trust saved up,” Regina said. “Let’s just go to bed, get to court in the morning and go home.”_

_“Fine by me.”_

_“Since you have made yourself at home on a bed already, I am going to take a shower.”_

_Emma who was lying back down at this point just mumbled in agreement. Regina went into the bathroom with her toiletries and turned the hot water on. It wasn’t her shower, or her bath at home, but it would have to suffice for now. She stripped down and got in, letting the water run all over._

_Her muscles felt stiff from the uncomfortable seats in court. They were supposed to have a 1 p.m. hearing but it got pushed back until 4 p.m. and then they didn’t finish up and were told to come back first thing in the morning. Spending the night in a hotel with Emma wasn’t exactly what she had planned, but she had to admit that Emma’s company while working on an custody agreement had been tolerable._

_Once you got past her bad driving, and bad jokes, Emma was actually growing on her. She was surprised that Emma was being so agreeable about a shared custody arrangement. She knew the other woman was scared that outside of Storybrooke, her past would play against her in any agreement. That was part of what made today tough – the judge went through Emma’s criminal record and her rather large history of moving. Regina had no idea that Emma had that much trouble staying in one place._

_Regina had told the judge that none of that mattered to her and shouldn’t play a part in his approval of any agreement. She had looked at Emma after saying it and she could tell it meant a lot to the blonde, who gave her a grateful smile._

_Emma’s smile –that was something Regina was also getting used to seeing and she enjoyed it. Her whole smile was so expressive that it practically forced you to smile back. It occurred to her that she had been thinking more and more about Emma lately. It wasn’t a constant thing, but it was more than just occasionally. In the time they had spent together she was learning more and more about her from her tastes in food to what music she liked. She really liked that Emma treated her unlike anyone else outside of Henry._

_She treated her as if she was just Regina, not the Evil Queen._

_Emma would never know how much that meant to her._

_Spending time with Emma also gave her the opportunity to engage in one of her other pastimes, which was appreciating her body. From the moment she met Emma, she had found her to be attractive and usually she subtly found ways to look at that body. The idea Emma would be in the next bed over from her all night made her pulse increase and she thought about taking care of herself while in the shower but dismissed the idea. It would be her luck that Emma would walk in._

_Regina finished up her shower, dried off and realized she didn’t bring clothes in with her. She grabbed a robe, put it on and exited the room – stopping immediately. She had walked in as Emma was changing clothes in the middle of the room. She was wearing only a pair of green panties and was in the process of putting on a tank top._

_Emma smirked at her, “see something you like?”_  
.............  
Stop thinking of it, Regina told herself. No good would come from thinking about that night. She needed to get dinner ready, although she didn’t really feel like cooking. The doorbell rang and she went to go answer it, looking out the peephole first and sighing.

She opened the door. “I brought pizza,” Emma said smiling.


	3. Chapter 3

 

Regina insisted that if they were going to eat pizza, they were at least going to use plates. She would not have her son’s table manners deteriorating. Emma thought it was a waste of time since they would then have to clean said dishes, but one look from Regina kept her from making much more than a token comment about it.

“So does this mean we are done with going to the court for a while?” Henry asked.

“Yes,” his moms answered at the same time, although with different inflections to their voices.

“I think we can get everything straightened out from here,” Regina said, not looking at Emma.

Emma for her part, knew better than to add ‘I told you so’ to that. She really hadn’t expected the judge to marry them after she had made that remark. She hadn’t expected Regina to go along with it. But now that it was done, she also didn’t see any reason why they shouldn’t at least make an attempt at it.

She wasn’t lying to her parents. She loved Regina. It was an easy thing for her to admit This woman had captivated her in a way no one else had managed to do. From the moment she met her, she knew Regina was a force to be reckoned with and she certainly proved that to be true.

She thought about that night.

 

_She was lying on the bed listening to the sound of the shower and wondering what it would be like to see Regina in the shower – naked, the water covering her skin – and what it would be like to be in the shower with her._

_They had been spending a lot of time together, and while she personally thought this whole custody arrangement was a waste of time when they could have dealt with it on their own, she also wasn’t going to complain about spending time with_ _Regina_ _. There was a time last week when she was over at_ _Regina_ _’s house and managed to wrangle an invite to dinner. Afterward she had helped_ _Regina_ _with the dishes and they just talked._

_It had felt so natural to Emma. She was struck suddenly with how easily she could see them repeating this scene night after night._

_She wasn’t sure how_ _Regina_ _viewed it though, and that thought alone had kept her from verbalizing what she was feeling._

_She finally decided it was time to dress for bed and got up. Since_ _Regina_ _was in the shower, she decided there was good enough and she stripped down. Once she was in only her panties she opened up her bag and grabbed a tank top. She was just pulling it over her head when the bathroom door opened. Regina was there, her hair up in a towel, her body covered by a robe. Emma saw_ _Regina_ _’s eyes rake over her._

_“See something you like?”_

_Her speaking seemed to snap_ _Regina_ _out of it. “Don’t be ridiculous,”_ _Regina_ _said moving toward her bed and her bag. Emma could see_ _Regina_ _was flustered as she went searching through her bag for some bed clothes._

_Emma knew she was taking a risk, but she also knew she would never have another shot at this so she came up behind_ _Regina_ _who was startled when she turned around to find Emma there so close. “Miss Swan, if you’ll excuse me, I’d like to get changed and …”_

_Emma reached out and untied the robe letting it fall open. This time it was her turn to let her eyes rake over_ _Regina_ _’s body._

_“You’re gorgeous,” Emma said before looking_ _Regina_ _in the eyes. She saw a mixture of emotions – almost at war within those eyes. Before the side of reason won out, Emma pulled_ _Regina_ _in and kissed her._ _Regina_ _was only a step behind her in the kissing department – but catching up very quickly._

 

“Mom,”

Emma snapped out of her musing and realized Regina or Henry must have been trying to talk to her.

“What?” she said.

“I asked if you wanted another piece,” Henry said.

“Um yeah. Just got lost in thought there for a few moments,” Emma said and she gave Regina a little smile. She raised one of her eyebrows for emphasis too and Regina merely concentrated on her pizza.

After dinner, Emma went upstairs with Henry, who had nodded toward the ceiling several times before Emma got the hint.

“What is it?” she asked keeping her voice down even though it was stupid to think Regina could hear them.

“I talked to mom about the marriage.”

“And?”

“And, she said she doesn’t feel married. She said some stuff about being forced into a marriage before and it not working and that marriage means something to her and she doesn’t think it means something to you.”

“Of course it means something to me. I love your mom. I just need to figure out a way to make her believe that.”

“Then maybe you should try some of that romance stuff. She said she liked that.”

“I can do that.”

“And maybe you can show her that are serious so maybe not joke so much.”

“I can try doing that.”

“I don’t think she thinks this is funny.”

“Ok, got it, no more joking. Any other advice Dr. Phil?”

“I’m just a kid, what do I know?”

“Thanks.”

She went back downstairs where Regina was finishing the dishes. Emma leaned against the kitchen island watching her. Regina put the last dish down to dry and turned and saw Emma wasn’t just leaning against the counter she had clearly had her eyes on Regina’s lower region.

“Miss Swan.”

“Emma, can we at least start with you calling me Emma?”

“Emma, what are you still doing here?”

“I was hoping we could talk.”

Regina turned off the light over the sink and walked out, turning off the other light. Emma took that as Regina didn’t want to talk in the kitchen so she followed her out to the main room. Regina poured herself a drink from the decanter and then poured another handing it to Emma.

“I sure made a mess of things didn’t I?” Emma said.

“Yes you did.”

“I don’t suppose saying sorry will be enough.”

“It’s not entirely your fault. I shouldn’t have agreed to it at the time.”

“Why did you agree to it? I mean besides temporary insanity.”

Regina smiled. “I don’t know, temporary insanity seems like a good enough reason.”

“It is I suppose,” Emma said. “But maybe if there is another reason, it could be a starting point for us to talk.”

Regina took a seat. “That um night, what made you decide to do what you did?”

There was no doubt as to what night she was speaking about.

“You are amazingly sexy, you are aware of that aren’t you?”

She noticed Regina blushed, but didn’t say anything in response.

“Well, you came out of the bathroom and you were looking at me, and up until then I wasn’t really sure if you um, if you were maybe interested in me. That look though, that was enough for me to realize that you at the very least were attracted to me.”

“But you were attracted to me before that?”

"I’ve been attracted to you since we met. Like I said you are amazingly sexy. Look, this isn’t how I would envision getting married either. I wouldn’t have chosen to do it like that, but we did do it that way, and I just think that maybe we shouldn’t um just jump to a divorce. We’ve been getting along really well.”

“Getting along well and getting married aren’t the same thing.”

“I know that. All I am saying is we could give this a chance.”

“Let’s say we give this a chance and let’s say it works for a few weeks, maybe even a few months, and then all of a sudden it stops working. How do we explain that to Henry?”

“I think as long as we are honest with him, it doesn’t matter.”

“I think it does matter,” Regina said. “I think pretending to be a family is not healthy for Henry, or for us.”

“Who said anything about pretending?”


	4. Chapter 4

**Marriage day 9**

 Emma loaded the dishwasher after dinner, as Regina, who was leaning against the counter sipping a glass of wine observed her. Emma tried not to let Regina’s intense study of her loading technique bother her. She had always thought Regina had a little OCD in her, and after being married to her for a little bit she was now pretty sure in her observation.

The first night they had dinner, Regina had corrected her that the dishes needed rinsed before being put in the dishwasher. Now Emma was also sure the top-of-the-line machine would have cleaned week old barbeque stains, but she didn’t point that out to her rather reluctant wife.

“You know I don’t mind doing the dishes,” Emma said. “I don’t even mind rinsing the dishes before putting them in the dishwasher, but is it necessary for you to watch me while doing it.”

“I suppose not. You seem to have gotten a handle on it now.”

“Thank you,” Emma said mock bowing. “Although you could have just said you like checking out my ass when I bend down to load the lower rack.”

She smiled and Regina merely sipped her wine.

“I thought you said you would take this seriously,” Regina finally said.

“I do take it seriously. I am hoping you might start taking it seriously any day now.”

“I assure you, I do.”

“No, you don’t. We’ve been married for more than a week. I moved in here to show you that I am committed, but also to show that if things get rough, I can’t just go stay at my place. I am sharing the chores; we are rotating taking Henry to school and picking him up. We have sat and watched one movie together as a family. I am doing everything you are asking of me, yet after what nine days, I feel more like your roommate than your wife. I am staying in the guest room. And if you don’t count me grabbing you and kissing you when you agreed to give this a try, we haven’t done anything remotely intimate.”

“Is that your big complaint, that we haven’t been intimate?”

“Oh no, I am not falling for that trap.”

“What trap would that be?”

“The one which leads you to thinking I just want sex or you trying to convince me and yourself that what we have is nothing more than sex, when it’s more than that. I don’t really think I am asking for much if I want to kiss my own wife.”

Regina finished her wine and handed the glass to Emma who dutifully rinsed it out, put it in with the other dishes and then closed up the machine and started it. She moved closer to Regina after doing so.

“Is the idea of kissing me that bad?” Emma asked, moving in even closer. She ran a finger down Regina’s forearm. “I kind of thought you liked kissing me.”

Regina didn’t say anything, but Emma leaned in, making her intentions clear. Their lips met and they slowly kissed. Regina broke it off first. “Don’t forget to wipe the dishes for any spots when the washer is done,” Regina said leaving.

Damnable woman, Emma thought. She knew what Regina was doing. Regina was trying to show that this couldn’t work. She was trying way too hard at it too. When Regina had agreed to “try” Emma thought this would be easier. Part of the issue was Emma didn’t know exactly what Regina’s problem was. Emma was being considerate to her, giving her space, but trying to be romantic. She even brought her flowers on their first day of living together.

But it wasn’t getting her anywhere.

She wondered if other couples’ marriages were this complicated.

**Marriage day 27**

The alarm woke Emma and she rolled over and turned it off. She had forgotten to shut it off the night before when she got in at 3 a.m. after having to respond to a robbery call. She rolled back up in her blankets and closed her eyes.

She didn’t know how much time passed but the sound of knocking woke her. “Go away,” she mumbled just loud enough not to be considered yelling.

The door opened anyway. “Miss Swan,” Regina said.

Emma groaned. She hated when Regina called her that before they were married; now it was downright annoying.

“What?” she said sitting up and pushing aside the blanket, knowing from Regina’s tone that this wouldn’t be a simple conversation.

“Um, do you need me to take Henry to school?”

“Yeah, that would be great,” Emma said.

“Ok,” Regina said and she quickly left.

What the hell, Emma thought and then she realized what she was wearing – rather what she wasn’t wearing. She had gotten home so late that her clothes were mostly still scattered on the floor. All she was wearing was a tank top and after flinging her blankets aside Regina must have gotten a full view of her.

Emma smiled. At least she knew Regina was still interested in her that way, which meant she may finally have something she could use against her wife.

 

**Marriage day 30**

Regina got stalled at work. It seemed like the day was one meaningless crisis after another. She had called Emma to let her know she was going to be late getting home. It felt weird having to do that, but since she sort made Emma do the same thing she knew she also had to abide by it.

She had to admit that she was surprised Emma was lasting this long. She figured after a week that Emma would get this notion of them being married out her head and leave. Yet every morning there was Emma coming out of the guest room.

It wasn’t that she didn’t like Emma. She did quite a lot. She just didn’t trust her. She didn’t trust that she wouldn’t give up so Regina was giving her all the opportunity to do so before either of them got too invested in this marriage.

She knew she could be more accommodating to Emma, but she held herself back. She knew if Emma just left her, she would be the one who ended up hurt, not Emma. So she felt she had to retain her resolve.

Tonight was Emma’s turn to cook – well Emma had volunteered when Regina told her she would be late – so she expected that she would come home to pizza in a box.

She drove home and thought it was odd that there weren’t more lights on. Henry had a horrible habit – one Emma shared – of not turning lights off. There wasn’t even a light in his room. She opened the door and put her keys and purse down.

The house was quiet.

“Henry?” she called out.

No answer. She tried again.

“Miss Swan,” she finally said.

“In the dining room,” Emma yelled out.

She supposed a couple pieces of pizza were better than starving so she made her way to the dining room. She opened the door and stopped. The table was laid out for dinner for two. The room smelled good – definitely Italian, Regina thought. The only light in the room was candlelight.

And then there was Emma – in a red dress.

“Happy month anniversary,” Emma said.


	5. Chapter 5

****

**Marriage day 31**

Regina woke and immediately saw the note and rose that had been left on her bed the night before. She smiled as she read the note again.

I wish I was in this bed with you tonight. But I respect that you need time. Just know that I am willing to wait. – Love, Emma

To say she had been surprised by the dinner was an understatement. Emma admitted she had help – particularly with the food, which Snow assisted with – but the rest of it was all her. Henry spent the night at his grandparents to give them time alone.

It was actually a pleasant evening but in the back of her mind, Regina was waiting for Emma to make some sexual advance on her, but that didn’t happen. She kissed her goodnight before they went to their separate rooms and once inside, Regina had found the note and the rose.

She had been married before – something she didn’t like to think about – and respect of her boundaries was never something her husband would have considered when it came to his needs or wants.

She sometimes wondered since it was her mother who had always wanted to be royalty, how Cora would have handled being the wife of a king.

She shook off the thought, not wanting to go down that dark path.

Regina picked up the rose and laid in bed for a while just looking at it. 

**Marriage day 33**

Emma wasn’t entirely sure why Regina was still distant with her. She thought after their one-month anniversary dinner that there might be a little more interest but she wasn’t getting anything. Maybe she had interpreted this wrong. Maybe Regina didn’t have feelings for her like she thought.

She knew that wasn’t true though. She knew Regina had feelings for her. She was being extra resistant and stubborn and Emma couldn’t figure out why.

She was being as nice as she could possibly be. She was being considerate. She was being accommodating.

She wasn’t the one with the problem – Regina clearly was.

Emma sat back in her chair at work knowing she should be concentrating on work, not on her marriage. But she couldn’t concentrate as she tried to think of any and all reasons why Regina was being this way.

…

Regina stood looking out the window which was behind her desk at the office. There was some paperwork on her desk which lay forgotten while her mind churned inside her head.

The problem was she didn’t know what to do about one Emma Swan.

The other woman infuriated her from the moment she came to town and now she found her infuriating in quite another way. Emma wanted their marriage to work and she was doing everything she could to show Regina that it could.

But Regina didn’t want it to work.

The thought wasn’t entirely true. The idea of being a family was more appealing than anything else Regina could think of.

She didn’t know how to be a part of a family though. And with her history … there was only one way it could end and that was in disaster. She didn’t want to allow herself to feel the comfort of being a family knowing one day – no matter how distant in maybe into the future – that it would come crashing down around her. Everything always did in her life.

She needed to end it – Now.

**Marriage day 34**

Emma entered the kitchen sneezing. “Come on kid,” she said.

“Wait,” Regina said, and she approached Emma who backed up a step at first when Regina placed a hand on her forehead and then her cheeks. “Back to bed.”

“What?”

“You have a fever. Get back into bed. I will take Henry to school.”

“It’s fine. It’s like a cold or something.”

“Colds don’t involve fevers, but the flu does,” Regina said. “You need to take it easy.”

Emma didn’t feel good, but she also didn’t believe in calling in sick. “I will be ok. A little coffee to help wake up and I will be good to go.”

Regina looked at Henry, “go ahead and get in my car, I will be there in a moment.” Henry saw his two moms staring each other down and decided it was best for him not to be there. As soon as he was gone, “If you think as mayor, I am going to let the sheriff go into work with the flu and get others sick, you are sorely mistaken. Now go back to bed. I will stop on the way back and get you some medicine.”

“Take Henry to school if you want, I am going to work,” she said turning and starting to walk away. She got to the door and turned to her. “And Madame Mayor, don’t worry the sheriff will maintain her distance from others including her wife.”

…

Emma felt like complete shit by noon, but she wasn’t about to go home and go to bed. As sick as she was, she was still upset with Regina. Why couldn’t she just say she was concerned about her wife being sick, not about the sheriff being sick?

Her head was so stuffy that she was getting a sinus headache.

She closed her eyes and rubbed at her temples.

“Are you done being stubborn?”

She looked up to see Regina standing in the doorway.

“I am not,” Emma said, scooting closer to the desk and picking up a piece of paper that was meaningless but it gave her something to concentrate on besides Regina or her head.

“Miss … Emma,” Regina said. “You are sick. You need to be in bed and … and I would feel better if you would put aside your anger at me at least until you are well enough to put up a proper fight.”

Emma let Regina stand there another moment before standing up. She walked over to Regina and then stopped. “When I feel better, you and I are going to have a very serious talk.”

 

**Marriage day 35**

Emma woke the next day still feeling like a truck had run over her. She rolled over and grabbed her phone to check the time – 10:34 a.m. She had slept off and on since coming home the day before. Regina had gotten her medicine and made sure she took it like clockwork and made her some chicken noodle soup that she suspected was homemade.

She got out of bed to go to the bathroom. When she came out Regina was in her room with a bottle of water and medicine which Emma took.

“Are you hungry?” she asked.

Emma shook her head no. She probably should feel hungry but all she felt like doing was curling back up under the blanket. She got back into bed and folded the blankets around her. She heard Regina leave and she closed her eyes to go back to sleep.

…

Regina was on the phone with her secretary when Emma came downstairs a few hours later. She got off the phone quickly, telling her she would call her back later.

Emma was leaning against the door frame. “Now I’m hungry.”

“Ok,” Regina said. “Back upstairs. I will bring you something to eat and it’s about time for more medicine.”

Regina got up and Emma instead of going upstairs lay down on the couch. Regina thought about telling her to get up and go to her bed, but didn’t. Emma looked like she might fall asleep again before she got food ready for her.

Emma sat up when Regina brought in a tray with a bowl of vegetable soup and some orange juice to drink. Emma saw Regina’s laptop was out on the coffee table. “Doing some work?”

“Yes.”

“You could have gone into work.”

“I could have, but I can get what I needed to get done from here. Forgive me if I wanted to make sure you stay in bed and get well.”

“Of course the mayor would want the sheriff to be well.”

Regina didn’t say anything at first. “I do want the sheriff to get better, but I also want you to get better.”

“Forgive me if you haven’t exactly given me any indication that you give a damn.”

Regina sighed, “I do care.”


	6. Chapter 6

**Marriage day 38**

Emma came home from work late as she caught up on work. She warmed up the food that Regina had made for dinner – a nice roast – and sat in the kitchen eating it. She felt so much better than she had. She wasn’t sure she had ever been sick like that before. Regina had stayed with her the entire time.

As much as she wished that meant they were turning the corner in their marriage, she knew that wasn’t the case. They needed to talk.

She finished up her food and washed the dishes. She spent the rest of the evening playing some video games with Henry up in his room. She hadn’t really seen Regina most of the evening and when she finished up with Henry she went downstairs and found all the lights were out. Regina must have gone to bed.

She double-checked the locks on the doors and went upstairs. There was a light coming from under Regina’s door so she knew she was there. She stood there for a while before finally knocking and entering.

Regina was sitting on the bed reading. As Emma entered she put the book down. Emma didn’t say anything as she came over and sat on the edge of the bed.

“Do you want me to leave?” she asked.

Regina didn’t say anything at first.

“I don’t know how to be a wife,” she said finally. “I was a wife before and I was really bad at it. I could blame it on my mom and her lack of being a good example at just about anything, but the truth is I’ve made my own share of mistakes and they have been pretty big ones which I am sure you can agree with. I mess up – a lot, and what happens when I mess this up?”

“Who says you would be the one who messes it up?” Emma said. “My history with relationships isn’t the greatest you know. I just don’t understand why you won’t try.”

“Because … because I am afraid.”

“Of what?”

“Of it not working and of it working.”

“If you aren’t going to try, there isn’t much sense in me sticking around. Now don’t take that as me wanting out of it. I don’t want out of it. I want to us to make this work. I think we can make this work, but it’s not going to if you keep this up.”

“I know.”

“So what is it that you want?”

Silence.

“I want to try.” 

**Marriage day 47**

“You know you don’t have to make me lunch to take to work,” Emma said as Regina handed her, her lunch.

“You can’t be eating at Granny’s every day or worse getting some wretched fast food,” Regina said. “You will eventually get fat.”

“Are you saying being fat makes me less attractive?”

Regina looked her up and down as if she was considering how to answer that. She waited long enough that Emma looked at her and said, “Not cool.”

“It doesn’t make you less attractive,” Regina conceded.

“Thank you,” Emma said leaning in and kissing her on the cheek. “You got Henry after school?”

“I do,” she said.

“Ok, well I will see you for dinner then,” she said before leaving to go to work.

…

When it was lunch time Emma got her food from the fridge and warmed it up. She had to smile as she waited for the microwave to finish. Regina had been making her lunch every day ever since she had agreed she would try at being a married couple.

Not a whole a lot had changed since then, but there had been smaller changes such as lunch.

Regina had also been nicer, not quite on guard as she had been. If she was trying to trick Emma into giving up, she was being more subtle about it because Emma wasn’t seeing any of it.

But the kiss on the cheek was about as far as she was getting as far as intimacy went.

She had meant what she had said; she was willing to go slow and wait until Regina was ready. She found it challenging though to show Regina that she cared about her when she couldn’t be at least a little physical with her.

She knew she just needed to be patient. Or so she told herself every morning and every night.

**Marriage day 54**

Regina tried to pay attention to the movie, but she found she kept looking at Emma from her peripheral vision. Emma had asked her out on this date, which included dinner and the cliché movie. They had talked about safe topics during the meal – work, Henry, nothing about their marriage. Most of their conversations lately were “safe.”

They hadn’t really talked about the marriage since that night.

She thought Emma was giving her time and space to figure it out in her own head.

She hadn’t lied to Emma, she did want to try, and she was. She knew she wasn’t doing enough though to make a marriage work.

Maybe small steps were all she was capable of right now.

But even small steps were important she told herself as she reached over and put her hand on top of Emma’s for the duration of the movie.

**Marriage day 55**

Emma was working out at the gym, running on the treadmill. She wasn’t too worried about staying in shape, although she probably had eaten too much fast food for lunches before Regina started making her meals. She was listening to music on her ipod and thinking about the night before.

They had gone out on a date – her idea of course – and she had tried not to notice Regina continuously looking at her but she had. It worried her.

She was about 87 percent sure that most of what Regina’s problem was her thinking too much. She was so busy thinking she couldn’t just let go and relax. When Regina was over thinking things it led to her thinking critically that things were naturally going to go wrong.

Emma was therefore pleasantly surprised when Regina placed her hand on top of hers during the movie.

It was a small step but it still made Emma smile, and gave Emma the courage to hold Regina’s hand as they exited the theater. That night – before going to their separate bedrooms – they even kissed good night, which made Emma smile even more.

**Marriage day 60**

Stop thinking about it, Regina told herself. Just don’t think about it.

But she couldn’t stop.

She’d spent most of her morning, which included a meeting with a citizen’s committee that proposing something that she didn’t even know what it was, thinking about it. She was distracted and she didn’t like distractions.

Distractions kept her from getting things done. And whether the people of Storybrooke liked her or hated her they at least knew their mayor got stuff done.

It had all started three days earlier. The upstairs shower – the one Emma and Henry used – had lost water pressure in it. A plumber came out and said there was a leak originating from behind the shower wall that was accounting for the loss in pressure. It would need to be torn out repaired and a new wall put in.

It wasn’t anything Regina was overly worried about, she instructed the plumber to go ahead and do what needed to be done. After all there were two other full bathrooms in the house – one downstairs and one upstairs off of Regina’s room.

For the first two days things went fine – Henry and Emma used the downstairs bathroom. Then she had gotten home late last night due to a negotiation meeting for city service employees. She had went straight upstairs, noted that Henry was in his room doing his homework, and as she walked into her room she saw the door to the bathroom was slightly open and the light was on.

She walked over and heard someone in it –guessing it was Emma but what she wasn’t expecting was Emma to walk out a second later colliding with her. Emma grabbed her instinctively even though there was no danger of Regina falling. But that wasn’t even on Regina’s mind. What was on her mind was the fact that Emma was wearing nothing but a bathrobe and her body was now pressed up against the black satin of it. Regina hadn’t meant to but somehow she found she was looking at Emma’s barely covered breasts.

A moment later she was out of Emma’s arms and apologizing for running into her even though technically Emma had run into her.

At this point though she found she could barely keep eye contact with Emma, her eyes wanting to drift farther south.   
Thankfully, Emma also seemed a little flustered about it and apologized before leaving the room.

Since then all Regina had been able to think about was her body pressed against Emma’s with only a thin piece of cloth keeping her from touching the other woman’s skin.

Even that morning when Emma had given her a kiss – a routine that had moved from her cheek to her lips — the kiss had lingered slightly more than it usually did. And they stared into each other’s eyes for a few more seconds than was necessary.

It’s not as if she didn’t know she was attracted to Emma. But the last time they had sex, it was just sex. This was different. Now they were married.

“Stop thinking about it,” she said out loud this time.

**Marriage day 61**

It’s not getting any better, Regina thought. The night before, this morning, now this evening, she couldn’t stop thinking about touching Emma.

She was horny and even trying to relieve that tension on her own wasn’t working. Not that she wasn’t successful, but she just still found her hormones were completely charged up.

Emma had come home from work, but had stopped at the gym first – something she had been doing a lot lately. She came home still covered in a sheen of sweat and Regina could hardly take her eyes off of her. Even with her hair pulled back and the look of someone who had worked a full day and then threw herself into a workout, to Regina she still looked entirely too sexy.

This time Emma asked if she could use Regina’s shower and Regina merely nodded.

That should have been the end of it, but now Regina was standing in her bedroom actually staring at the bathroom door, listening to the shower running. She got as far as the door her hand hovering over the doorknob thinking of how easy it would be to go in. But she didn’t. She did back away to resist the temptation.

…

If Emma was a guy, and she had guy friends they would sympathize with her for having “blue balls.” She had been working out like crazy lately hoping to burn off some of that excess energy that was plaguing her body.

Maybe if her wife’s body wasn’t so damn fuckable …

So there she was working out after work so when she came home at night she wouldn’t cross a line that Regina simply wasn’t ready to cross.

Even here in the shower, she kept it on cold.

 


	7. Chapter 7

 

**Marriage day 68**

“You’ve been going to the gym practically every night after work,” Regina said, bringing up a topic she had been thinking about – usually in the sense of seeing Emma walk in each night needing a shower. “What is with the sudden desire to work out?”

“I like to stay fit. I am the sheriff,” she said, not daring to tell Regina the real reason. She had now gone yet another week with just the barest of opportunities to kiss or touch her wife. She was pretty sure it was going to drive her insane. And what really drove her crazy was the fact Regina didn’t even seem to notice it.

“I hardly think you need to work out so much. You look great.”

“Thanks,” Emma smiled.

It was after dinner and after Henry had gone to bed. They had spent the evening as a family, having dinner and watching a movie together. Now they were both sitting on the couch. The TV was on but neither was really paying attention to it.

“Um there is something I um wanted to talk to you about,” Regina said after they had fallen silent.

“Ok,” Emma said turning toward her. Each was on opposite ends of the couch. Regina felt suddenly self-conscious with Emma looking at her and she was trying to figure out how to say what she wanted to say. She had been rehearsing it in her mind for a couple of days now and it still sounded stupid in her head.

“Are you ok?” Emma asked after Regina was quiet for more time than what Emma thought was necessary if she really wanted to talk about something.

“Yes. It’s just um I am not sure how to say what I wanted to say and now that I am on the spot at it were I am finding it even more difficult to say it.”

“Why don’t you just say it quickly?” Emma asked. Regina being nervous was making her nervous. She wondered if this was the time she was going to hear the word divorce. While things had gotten better between them, it still didn’t feel like a marriage to Emma.

“I was thinking maybe um, maybe you could stop sleeping in the guest room.”

“Dare I ask where you think I should be sleeping?”

“Well, it’s just we are married and if we’re going to you know be married then you sleeping in the guest room doesn’t really make much sense. Unless you want to sleep there then I understand.”

“No!” Emma said a little too urgently. “I mean it does make sense for me to not sleep there and sleep in your room.”

“Our room,” Regina said. “We’re married so it should be our room.”

“Our room,” Emma smiled. “I’d like that.”

They stayed downstairs for a while, both seemingly nervous about the prospect of sharing a bed. Regina was the first to get up and Emma was right behind her. “I’ll um lock up down here,” Emma said. “And then change and come to bed.”

“Ok,” Regina said disappearing upstairs.

Holy shit, Emma thought. She was going to get to sleep in the same bed with Regina. Regina had actually brought up the idea and now it was going to happen. They were going to sleep side by side. She wondered what kind of sleeper Regina was – did she share blankets or hog them for herself? Did she like multiple pillows or just one? Did she wear socks to bed?

She locked up the house and tried not to run up the stairs. She went to the guest room and changed clothes and brushed her teeth. Normally she would sleep in a T-shirt and panties, but she put on a pair of shorts just so she didn’t freak Regina out. She figured Regina’s night time routine was a little more in-depth than hers so she forced herself to slow it down. She didn’t want to get in the bed first and end up getting in the wrong side or something.

She waited as long as she could stand and knocked lightly before entering the room. Regina was already in bed on the left side as far as Emma’s view in facing the bed. She went around to the right and got into bed. There was a moment of extreme awkwardness and then Emma turned to her and said, “good night.”

“Good night,” Regina said and they shared a kiss which was not so different than their other good night kisses except this time they were in bed doing it. Regina turned off the light and both women laid there with their own thoughts.

Emma wasn’t sure how much time had passed but she was fairly sure neither of them had moved and neither was asleep.

“Are you awake?” she asked finally.

“Yes.”

“So am I. Was this too soon?”

Regina turned on her side to face Emma who did the same. “We’ve been married for more than two months; I don’t think this was too soon.”

“But you are uncomfortable with me being in here?”

“I admit that I am a little uncomfortable yes, but you also seem uncomfortable. We are both awake.”

“Let me ask you this, do you normally sleep flat on your back like you were just a moment ago?”

“No. Normally I sleep on my side – usually facing outward, but sometimes inward. What about you?”

“On my side, on my back or on my stomach. I usually move around until I find a comfy spot.”

“Oh.”

“Can we try something? If it is uncomfortable just let me know.”

“Ok.”

“Alright, turn on your side facing outward like you would sleep normally.”

Regina did so. Once she was settled she felt Emma moving until Emma was right up against her also lying on her side facing outward. Emma wrapped an arm around Regina’s midsection.

They lay like that a few moments, each getting used to it.

“Is this ok?” Emma asked finally.

“Yes,” Regina said.

Emma could feel the tenseness in Regina’s body still and almost pulled away, but decided she needed to give it a little more time. She slowly felt Regina begin to relax. Emma continued to lie there awake until she was sure Regina was asleep and then she allowed herself to fall asleep.

 

**Marriage day 69**

Regina woke first still on her side, still with Emma’s arm around her. She realized she had slept through the whole night. She sometimes had restless sleep but not last night. After her initial nervousness she allowed herself to relax and she had slept apparently quite comfortably.

So too had Emma she was guessing. The other woman must have found her comfy spot Regina reasoned. 

She normally got up immediately upon waking, but she didn’t want to disturb Emma who was clearly still sleeping deeply based on how she was breathing. Regina closed her eyes even though she doubted she would fall back asleep.

Less than 15 minutes later she was again asleep in Emma’s arms.


	8. Chapter 8

****

**Marriage day 73**

Emma was feeling good. She had slept great each night since moving into the master bedroom. She remembered waking that next morning to find she still had Regina in her arm and Regina was still asleep. It didn’t last long as Regina woke, but she took advantage of their closeness to give her a kiss good morning and Regina didn’t object.

She hadn’t felt as tense or in need of a strenuous workout and found her favorite part of the day was getting into bed at night. She still hadn’t had sex with Regina, but she found being able to be close to her in bed was taking some of that edge off. Not that she would be satisfied with mere cuddling. She wanted Regina so badly she had started fantasizing during slow hours of the day of the various places and ways she would like to have sex with her.

She definitely wouldn’t be getting any love tonight either. Tonight was a family dinner at her parent’s house. Since their marriage, Emma and Henry had been over for dinner, but Regina had not. She had made excuses for why she couldn’t go the last two times, but this time Emma made it clear she needed to come and be a part of the family.

It wasn’t that Regina didn’t get along with her parents. They got along better now than they ever had before. But for some reason the idea of a sit-down dinner at her parent’s house seemed to make Regina nervous. At least she had somewhat of an idea why beyond the obvious.

 

_“I don’t understand why you are making a big deal about it. It is just dinner,” Emma said._

_“No it’s not.”_

_“Last I checked it was. And you act like you haven’t ever had a sit-down meal with my parents.”_

_“That was at Granny’s. This is different. We will be at their house.”_

_“I don’t see the difference.”_

_“Of course you don’t. You are their daughter. You probably do no wrong in their eyes. I clearly do and have done wrong.”_

_“All of that is in the past. We all agreed to leave it there.”_

_“Yes we did. And we have done a fairly good job of keeping it there, but tell me what exactly am I to discuss at a family dinner with your parents? What would be a safe topic of conversation?”_

_“You are worried about dinner conversation?”_

_“It’s not dinner conversation. It’s everything. It’s how I present myself to them. Everything will be watched and cataloged for future reference. If I don’t show myself to the be the perfect wife then your parents are going to start pointing out those faults they see to you over and over again until …”_

_“Until what?”_

_“Until you feel enough pressure that you start looking for my faults.”_

_Emma was about to make a humorous remark, but she could tell this was a legitimate concern for_ _Regina_ _. She was actually worried about this occurring._

_Emma approached her and put a hand on_ _Regina_ _’s crossed arms. “I didn’t ask my parents permission to marry you. I didn’t consult them. I didn’t even tell them that I had feelings for you until after we were married. And I do have feelings for you. I hope you know that, that you see that. My point is, my parents are my parents but they don’t command my life and they sure as hell don’t get to make my wife feel inferior.”_

_She caught the barest beginnings of a smile on_ _Regina_ _’s face until she turned serious again. “I guess I should probably go. I don’t want them to think I am rude by turning down their invitation.”_

_“Yes heaven forbid they think that,” Emma said._

_Regina_ _did give her a smile that time and Emma said, “don’t worry about it ok. I got your back and any other part of your anatomy you want me to protect or just hold on to for a bit.”_

_She winked at_ _Regina_ _after that last part._

 

Yes Emma was sure she was wearing down Regina’s defenses as slow as it was. She kept reminding herself that they hadn’t actually dated so all that date stuff where a person learns about the other person was happening now during the marriage. She had asked Henry how she thought things were going once he realized his moms were now sleeping in the same bedroom. His response to that was, “about time.”

But in his mind at least things were going well. He loved having both of his moms under one roof. He felt like he got to spend equal time with them which is what he had wanted all along. He and Emma had a more relaxed, friendly relationship but he was also seeing Regina become more relaxed as well.

The bottom line was that he wanted his family together, he said, but only if they were all happy.

Emma wasn’t sure if he meant that Regina was unhappy and she didn’t get the chance to question him more. She didn’t think Regina was unhappy. She might not be overly happy, but she wasn’t sensing that standoffishness that she was getting at the beginning. Plus Emma knew that Regina at least enjoyed being in bed with her. Regina had said she had slept well each night.

Emma changed clothes after work and they all headed to her parents. She could sense nervousness from Regina so she put a hand on hers as she drove until Regina said as sheriff she should know to keep both hands on the wheel. Yep, Emma thought, definitely not getting sex tonight.

They walked up to the house, Emma just opening the door, which earned her a look from Regina for not knocking. She hoped Regina would stop being so tense because if she didn’t she was sure her mother would notice.

Emma actually sort of shared Regina’s fear. She didn’t want to be put in the position where her parents would say anything negative about Regina. Being in the middle of that hot mess was the last place she wanted to be. Her parents had so far respected her decision to remain married to Regina in order to see where it could lead. Whether they believed it would lead anywhere they hadn’t said.

Dinner started off quiet, but to Emma’s surprise Regina started talking to Snow first by commenting on the dinner, which was a pork roast with potatoes and carrots. They talked about seasoning and different cooking techniques, which led them to talking about some cook who used to be at Snow’s father’s castle. Emma was sure they were headed to dangerous territory at that point.

“I wish I knew how cook made that bread,” Snow said. “I’ve tried and failed. I am missing something or skipping a step. I’ve seen her make it but I was only a kid so…”

“Did you add the honey?”

“Yes. Please tell me you have seen her make it.”

“Plenty of times.”

They spent the next 30 minutes trying to break down the recipe. In the end they thought they had a reasonable approximation on how it was made, but then came a debate of whether part of the issue in making it was letting the dough rise in front of a wood-burning stove and using said stove instead of modern appliances.

Emma was admittedly bored by the conversation, as was Henry and Charming, but as long as they were getting along she didn’t care what they talked about.

 

**Marriage day 76**

Emma came home late after taking a report from a woman across town who swore she saw an ogre. Mrs. Collins was a regular call in and it was always an outlandish tale that she insisted you write down. After the first couple of times, Emma had asked around about her and found her husband had passed away back in the Enchanted Forest before the curse and she got lonely sometimes. When the loneliness got really bad she called the sheriff’s office. She just wanted someone to talk to and as long as she didn’t take up obscene amounts of time Emma didn’t mind a cup of coffee and a story.

Emma entered the house and went straight upstairs. It was after 11 p.m. and Henry was in bed or at least was smart enough to keep his light off while playing video games. Emma was ready to call it a night. She came into the bedroom where Regina was sitting up in bed reading.

“How was Mrs. Collins?” she asked putting the book down.

“She’s good.”

“What was it this time?”

“Ogre. Apparently it was trying to sneak through the neighborhood but she saw it so called the sheriff’s office. Unfortunately it was gone by the time I got there, but did you know back in the Enchanted Forest that during the ogre war there were actually ogres who were conscientious objectors and refused to fight.”

“I actually did know that, although I don’t think anyone used the phrase conscientious objectors.”

“Really? So she was telling the truth?”

“She may be lonely, but she isn’t necessarily a liar, at least not about home. She used to come into my office before the curse broke and she’d always have some story about the mafia or what not being in town, but once I assured her things were safe she would start talking about these stories her mom would tell her as a child. They were actually real stories from home. It was like some of her real memories had bled through to this world. She stopped coming to my office once the curse broke and she realized who I was.”

Emma was in the process of changing clothes in front of Regina – after two days of sleeping in the same bed and knowing Regina had seen her nakedshe stopped being modest – when she stopped and looked at her. “Do you miss it?”

“Miss what? Life before you broke my curse?”

“No. You called the Enchanted Forest home. The other day you were talking with my mom about some medieval recipe. Do you miss it?’

Regina shrugged, a gesture that seemed out of place to Emma on the rare occasions she had seen Regina do it. “There are some things I guess you could say I miss.”

“Like what?” Emma said finishing putting her clothes on. “Wait, hold that thought.”

She ducked into the bathroom to brush her teeth and brush her hair. She came back and got into bed. “Now you can continue.”

“I miss the stars.”

“Are they different there?”

“No, I don’t think so. They are clearer though. They seemed brighter there as if there is nothing really blocking them from shining.”

“Yeah, we probably have a lot more pollution in the air.”

“To say the least. Other things I miss, just the general beauty of the land. We didn’t have the big skyscrapers or mass of buildings. The castles were the largest structures and they were spread out. There was so much forest and fields and I remember when I was younger riding a horse out through a meadow and thinking how the land seemed to stretch out for an eternity. I wanted to ride out and explore it all.”

Emma saw the far away look in Regina’s eyes and pictured what a young Regina must have looked like. But too soon she saw the sadness creep into those eyes.

“I bet you don’t miss chamber pots or not having a washer and dryer,” Emma said trying to lighten the mood quickly. She had noticed during their marriage that Regina would sometimes get sad. She would never say anything or express emotions about it, but the mood would always change immediately and it was in those moments that Emma worried the most about her.

“Yes, having toilets and appliances are certainly bonuses to this world. And the literature is better,” she said indicating the book in her lap.

“TV programming is probably a lot better too.”

“Much better,” Regina smiled, and Emma knew she had defused the situation. Emma yawned though as her day caught up with her.

“I can turn out the lights if you are tired,” Regina said.

“No, you can keep reading. I can sleep with the light on.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yep,” she said and she leaned over and kissed Regina goodnight. She settled down under the blankets and turned away from Regina and light and went to sleep on her side.

…

Regina read a couple more chapters of her book. When she was ready to sleep she turned off the lights, but found much like the first night with Emma in bed she was awake. She felt tension beginning to set in and she wondered why. She had been sleeping great, surprisingly so, since Emma and her began to share the bed.

It was another 20 minutes of staring at the ceiling in the dark when she realized this was the first time Emma hadn’t been in physical contact with her while asleep. Each night Emma would hold her whether it be in the spoon position, or Emma on her back with Regina on her side facing her with Emma’s arm still around her. Regina had come to enjoy that contact and now that Emma was turned away from her and clearly asleep, Regina was going to have to go without.

More time passed and Regina thought she was going to have to get up out of bed and maybe go downstairs for a bit because she couldn’t see herself getting any sleep anytime soon. She felt silly about the idea of waking Emma up. What would she say, ‘sorry, but I need you to hold me.’ The idea of it even sounded stupid in her mind.

Maybe she just needed to be closer to Emma, so she scooted closer to that side of the bed. More waiting to fall asleep but it continued to elude her.

She moved even closer to the point she was right behind Emma. She tried to look up and over to see Emma’s face but couldn’t make it out entirely in the dark.

She wanted to sleep, needed to sleep, so she made the decision in her mind. Even after making it, she had an internal debate before sliding her arm carefully around the blonde. She could now feel Emma breathing as she let her arm relax finally. It wasn’t quite as comforting as having Emma’s arm around her, but as she drifted slowly to sleep her last thought was how she had so quickly become addicted to Emma’s comforting touch as she slept.


	9. Chapter 9

 

**Marriage day 77**

Regina woke to find Emma staring at her. The other woman was lying on her side watching her.

“Is something wrong?” Regina asked, her mind still a little sleepy but slowly processing.

“You are beautiful.”

Regina smiled. “Thank you.”

“No thank you.”

“For what?”

“For taking this step, letting me lay here beside you.”

She smiled even bigger this time. “I was thinking before I fell asleep last night that this, me and you here in bed, it’s become in a short amount of time something I look forward to.”

“Me too,” Emma said, this time the smile brightening her face. “Can I make a confession?”

“Yes.”

“I really enjoy being able to hold on to you while we sleep. It feels …”

“Natural.”

“Yeah. Natural.”

Regina leaned forward and kissed her. Normally Emma was the one to instigate physical contact, but as she kissed Emma it began to move quickly from the simple kisses they had shared up until now. They both started to draw the kisses out, holding their lips together until the last possible touch only to reattach them. The kisses remained soft, as neither of them pressed for an advantage or tried to make it go faster.

Despite the pent up sexual drive both women had been experiencing, it was if both sensed now wasn’t the time for it.

They continued, hands lightly keeping contact with each other but there was no exploration of bodies, just long kisses.

The alarm going off startled them both and Regina quickly turned over and shut it off before turning back around. But as they looked at each other they knew the moment was over the day would now intrude upon the connection they had shared.

“I should get up,” Regina said ensuring the moment was indeed over.

“Yeah, I need to as well,” Emma said.

They went through their normal morning routine of getting up and dressed, and shared breakfast with Henry. Emma was the first to have to leave the house, and had already given Regina a chaste kiss goodbye. She was getting ready to pull out of the driveway when Regina came out flagging her down. Emma’s police radio was in her hand.

Regina came around the side of the car and handed it to her.

“Thanks,” Emma said.

“You’re welcome. I can’t have the sheriff running around town without it.”

“Yeah,” Emma said. She was about to put the car back into gear but Regina was still standing there. She saw Regina looking around her as if expecting there to be someone there. She was about to ask her what was wrong when Regina bent down and ducked her head through the window, grabbing the back of Emma’s head and pulling her forward for a kiss.

It was all tongue and nothing like their previous kisses. And just when Emma’s mind was catching up to it, Regina stopped and stood back up.

“Well um have a good day,” Regina said.

“I will.”

…

Emma hurried home after work. Instead of what had become the routine of her thinking about Regina sexually, she spent most of the day thinking about kissing her – just kissing her.

She actually ended up arriving home as Regina was also pulling in. She waited for her to get out of her car and escorted her to the door. She held it open for her, smiling the whole time. Regina’s smile was not as big, but Emma had gotten good at being able to tell when Regina was trying hard not to smile.

Henry was home—they felt he was old enough now to be home for a limited amount of time after school until one of them got there. Regina went off to the kitchen to get dinner started and Emma checked on Henry and what homework he might have. Once that was taken care of, she went to the kitchen and saw Regina was standing in front of the stove. Emma moved forward and she wrapped her arms around her from behind.

Regina tried to ignore it and continue what she was doing but Emma pulled her hair out of the way and kissed her neck.

“I’m trying to cook your dinner,” Regina said.

“I know. I will behave,” Emma said backing off. She took up position next to the stove and leaned up against the counter so she could watch Regina. She let her eyes drift down to the hem of Regina’s skirt and thought about what was under it. So much for the innocent thoughts from before, she thought as she kept her eyes on that body.

“You’re distracting me,” Regina said.

“How am I doing that?”

“I think you know how.”

“Nope, don’t have a clue.”

“Maybe you could stop doing what you don’t have a clue you are doing and let me finish dinner. Then after dinner you can again do what you don’t have a clue you are doing.”

“That almost makes sense. Is that weird speak for we can flirt later?”

“Yes, now out of my kitchen.”

“I’m going but there will be flirting later, and definitely some kisses, maybe even touches.”

“Out,” Regina said.

…

Emma came out of the bathroom to the bedroom where Regina was again sitting up in bed reading. She went around to her side of the bed and got in, lying down facing her.

“You know we haven’t actually gotten to that flirty part yet,” Emma said reaching over and running a finger along Regina’s forearm.

“That’s because you spent your entire time after dinner on the phone with Ruby.”

“It’s still after dinner,”

“Maybe I am not in the mood for flirting now.”

“Are you being serious?” Emma said sitting up.

“Deadly serious,”

“You do know I can tell when you are lying, right?”

“Are you accusing me of lying?”

“Yes,” Emma said. “I think you want me to flirt with you. I think you want it real bad.”

“You would be mistaken,” Regina said raising up her book to continue reading. It lasted for about two seconds before Emma plucked it from her hands and tossed it on the floor.

“Miss Swan!”

“That isn’t my name,” Emma said as she moved quickly to kiss her wife. Regina kissed her back, as Emma knew she would. She could tell Regina was playing with her about the whole not in the mood thing. She had caught Regina looking at her a couple of times during dinner and each time it was a look like Regina wished Emma was the main course.

After establishing that they were both into the kissing, Emma backed off. She stared into Regina’s eyes. “If you insist on using more formal titles, perhaps you should start with Mrs. Swan-Mills.”

“Is that so?”

“It is,” Emma said kissing her again and then stopping.

“What about Sheriff Mills, can I call you that?” Regina asked in between kisses. “It has a nice ring to it.”

Emma stopped, “no, definitely don’t call me that.”

Regina kissed her this time and reached back and turned off the light.

“Does that mean it’s time to go to sleep?” Emma asked.

“No. I do believe I agreed to after dinner flirting, kisses and some maybe touching,” Regina said. “We’ve done the first two, wouldn’t you agree?”

“I like your logic Mayor Swan,” Emma said.

“Never call me that,” Regina said. “Especially if you want to actually get to the touching.”

Emma laughed as she pulled Regina down onto the bed more and kissed her.


	10. Chapter 10

 

**Marriage day 78**

Regina wondered if this was how other people felt when they were happy. Yes, she had been happy before in her life – mostly due to having Henry in it, but this was a different kind of happiness.

Emma Swan was actually making her happy.

The night before they had kissed and yes touched more than they had previously. They still hadn’t had sex and Regina knew that because of her, not Emma. It’s not as if she didn’t want to have sex with the blonde. She did, but something was holding her back from taking that step.

It was why she had called Archie that morning and asked if she could meet with him. That was where she was now – sitting in his office. She had spent the first 30 minutes talking to him about her marriage before actually getting to the point of why she was there.

“What do you think it is that is holding you back?” he asked. “You said yourself you find her attractive and you have had sex with her before.”

“That was before we were married,” she said quickly.

“Then it’s the combination of and sex and marriage that is bothering you?”

“Yes, no, I don’t know. I don’t know how to do this.”

“Do what exactly?”

“Make the conscious choice to have sex with my wife,” she said as if it was obvious.

Archie could sense her growing frustration so he paused deliberately before speaking again. “When you were married before, to the king, did you not make the conscious choice to have sex with him as his wife?”

“The king wanted a mother for Snow, any extra curricular activities were always started by him, and he was king so I did my duty as his wife whether I wanted to or not. I am not saying he forced me or anything because I never said no. I couldn’t say no. Again he was king.”

“He might not have forced you, but the fact you felt you couldn’t say no doesn’t mean it felt any less forced to you. Do you feel like if you were having sex with Emma it would be forced?”

“No,” she said quickly. “She has been beyond understanding in that department. She said she would wait until I was ready and she has done that. Last night for instance, there was no reason for us not to have sex.”

“Clearly there was a reason or you would have done so.”

She looked down at the floor, her hands clasped together. “Sex adds permanence to this marriage,” she said finally.

There it is, Archie thought. The real reason Regina was there.

“Do you not want the marriage to be permanent?”

She paused still looking at the floor. “She makes me happy,” she said pulling her head up. “She makes me happy and I … I don’t know if I make her happy or can sustain making her happy.”

“Were you ever happy in your marriage to the king?”

“I tried to be,” she said. “But no.”

“But you are happy now with Emma?”

“Yes.”

“Go home Regina. Go home and talk with your wife. That is the only way you move your relationship forward. Forget about the sex for the moment and go talk to Emma about what this marriage means to you. I promise you that you will feel better having done it and she will feel happier knowing how you feel.”

…

Emma was pleased when Regina asked her if she wanted to go out for dinner for the evening, just the two of them. She readily agreed. She was really beginning to feel like she was in a marriage. Even though they hadn’t had sex yet, it felt right to her so when Regina called her up to ask her out it made her smile knowing they were progressing.

She had thought last night was going to be the night when Regina had turned out the light and started to kiss her, but it didn’t move beyond some serious kissing and some touches. But flirting was nice, so she wasn’t upset over it or anything. They would get to where they needed to be.

…

In the end they decided to go out of town for their dinner. It was nice option and it felt good to get away, even if was just over to the next town. They ate at a Chinese restaurant – a choice that Emma admitted surprised her.

“When you lived as long as I have, you like variety,” Regina had said.

“I will have to remember that.”

They sat down and Regina ordered the General Tso’s chicken while Emma went with shrimp lo mien. Their food came and they settled into eating, chatting about mundane things at first.

Regina stopped eating and looked at Emma.

“What?” Emma said after a moment.

“I want you to know that this marriage, I um I didn’t know that this is what marriage was like. When I was married before it wasn’t like this. I was … I didn’t feel anything for my husband. I didn’t want to marry him but I wasn’t given a choice. Then all of a sudden I am married to you and I guess I keep expecting that it is going to be like it was before – my marriage I mean. And that is not to say I think you are going to be like him, because that is not what I mean. I am saying this really badly sorry,”

“Why don’t calm down first,” Emma said. “You just said those sentences in like 5 seconds.”

Regina took a moment to breathe. “What I am trying to say is that our marriage may have happened in an unconventional way, and at the beginning yes I tried to get you to give up, to go away, but now … you’ve made me happy.”

Emma gave her a big smile.

“I didn’t know it could be like that, a marriage which is happy,” Regina continued. “And I wanted you to know that. But I also need you to know that this happiness scares me because the few times I’ve been happy it seems like something always comes along and screws it up – usually me. I wonder if I can make you happy, happy in a way that’s sustainable, that lasts. That doubt has kept me from taking that step with you – you know which step that is – and I am sorry …”

“You don’t have to apologize for that. I told you I would wait. I meant it. No pressure here on this side of the table. If what we did last night was too fast for you I’m sorry.”

“It was not too fast,” Regina said quickly and her reaction made both of them smile. “I am attracted to you, deeply attracted to you, as you probably know when we um you know had sex the first time.”

“Yes I sort of got the feeling that you were hot for my body,”

“And your modesty is also very attractive.”

Emma reached across the table and took Regina’s hand in hers. “We’re married. As crazy at it may seem, you and I are married, and I want this marriage and I hope you do too, and as long you do, we will be fine. I don’t want you worry about whether you make me happy or not, because you do. No one has ever made me feel alive like you do. You, me, Henry, we get to be a family and I love that.”

Regina squeezed her hand back. “We can do this.”

“Yes we can.”

…

They returned home after picking Henry up from Emma’s parents. It was late so they all went directly to their bedrooms. Regina slipped out of the dress she was wearing and looked over her shoulder and saw that Emma was watching her.

“Come here,” Regina said. Emma walked over and Regina turned to face her. She wrapped her arms around Emma and kissed her gently. Emma responded in kind. They kissed slowly at first, but Regina picked up the pace a little more. She reached under Emma’s shirt so she could feel her skin.

“I want you,” she said between kisses. “All of you.”

Emma pulled back from her suddenly. “Hey,” she said. “We just had a nice dinner, and we talked, that doesn’t mean we have to take this any further tonight.”

“I want to. I’m ready. I just needed to say the things I did earlier. But now, I am ready,”

“Are you absolutely sure?”

“Yes, but thanks for asking,” Regina said kissing her again.

As much as Emma wanted this she reminded herself to let Regina set the pace. It started off slow, more kissing until Regina pulled Emma’s shirt up and off. The bra was quickly discarded as well, but before she did anything else, Regina led her to the bed where they both laid down.

They started to kiss again and Regina began to run her hand around one of Emma’s breasts. Emma could feel her nipple get hard. Some women were very sensitive there, and normally Emma wasn’t one of them, but she was turned on by the mere thought of being there naked with Regina that each touch felt like it was sending signals straight to her pussy.

After several minutes of merely enjoying the sensations Emma stopped them so each of them could take off what little remained of their clothing. She pulled Regina back down – this time on top of her and wrapped her arms around her as they kissed. Soon they were back to lying down next to each other – facing one another. Emma spent time feeling Regina this time, running her hands around her breasts – squeezing, feeling, slightly tweaking the nipples. She knew from the first time they were together that Regina was the kind of woman who loved to have her breasts touched.

And Emma was more than happy to oblige.

Regina was kissing along her neck while she reached to touch Emma’s pussy. She let one finger sink in between the folds and press down so she could feel that ever growing wet spot. Emma made an appreciative noise.

“Do you like that?” Regina asked.

“Yes,” Emma breathed out. “I like whatever you want to do with me.”

Regina laughed and brought their lips back together.

“Let’s see how wet you are,” Emma said between kisses as she mirrored Regina’s position – but she didn’t slide her fingers in to feel Regina’s slit, she pushed two fingers directly inside her and she felt Regina shift at the intrusion. Another thing she learned from their first time together, Regina was tight down there. She felt Regina’s wall crash against her fingers as she began moving them in and out.

Emma was finding it hard to concentrate on the task because Regina was circling her clit and rubbing it causing Emma to get even wetter.

Emma pulled her fingers out of Regina brought them up to her mouth, but Regina stopped her taking Emma’s fingers into her own mouth. The sight of Regina licking her own essence off of her fingers was almost enough to set Emma’s senses completely on fire.  
”That is the sexiest thing I have ever seen,” Emma said once Regina finished.

“Sorry, you can have the next taste,” Regina smiled.

Emma wasted no time dipping her fingers back in.

Each woman continued to work the other over. They were both working up a sweat and breathing harder. Emma knew she was going to cum soon as she upped the speed of her thrusts.   
”Emma,” Regina said. “God. Emma. I’m so fucking close.”

“I know,” Emma said feeling her own impending orgasm gathering within her.

“Fuck,” Regina swore again and then she cried out Emma’s name as the orgasm overwhelmed her. She still had the wherewithal to continue to touch Emma who called out Regina’s name as she was sent over the edge.

They lie there just breathing and feeling the mellowness that comes post-sex.

Emma recovered first, kissing Regina full on the lips.

“I love you my wife,” Emma said.


	11. Chapter 11

 

**Marriage day 79**

Regina woke first as usual and slipped out of bed to shower. She turned on the water and got in. Many mornings when she was less than awake she would let the water wake her up. This morning was not one of those mornings.

She had woken still feeling Emma’s naked body pressed up against hers and she immediately thought about how they had spent their time in bed in the night before. It was even better than the first time they had sex. Something about not being in a hotel room, but instead being in their bed added to the whole experience for Regina.

Then there was Emma’s admission afterward. She had said “I love you my wife,” and Regina had been so stunned that she didn’t say anything. Then as she began to see a hint of concern on Emma’s face, she kissed her, setting off another round of love making.

But Regina hadn’t said the words.

She found she wasn’t really anxious about not saying it either. Last night had been a big step for her and for both of them really. And even though she has stunned when Emma said it, she wasn’t really all that surprised that Emma felt that way.

Since the beginning Emma had been their marriage’s number one fan.

Regina smiled thinking of how supportive Emma had been pretty much the entire way. Maybe having sex finally as a married couple wasn’t a sign of permanence as much as Emma just being there for her was.

She took her shower, wrapping a robe around her after towel drying her hair and walked back out to the bedroom. Emma was propped up on an elbow, a smile on her face as she took in Regina’s nearly naked form.

“See something you like?” Regina asked, using the same line Emma had on her the first time they had sex.

“Very much so,” Emma smiled. “Come here.”

Regina moved back to the bed and Emma pulled her down on top of it, kissing her. They kept kissing for a few moments and then Regina stopped. She looked into Emma’s eyes. “I love you,” she said to her.

Emma smiled her biggest smile yet. “I love you too.”

 

**Marriage day 105**

 

Emma had gotten home earlier than she normally did, but it had been a slow day at work and she decided she put in enough extra hours most weeks that it didn’t matter if she took off once in a while. She entered and immediately heard music coming from the kitchen area.

She figured Regina was making dinner. Emma walked toward the sounds wanting to say hello to her wife, whom she hadn’t really seen that day. Regina had some 7 a.m. meeting that morning and Emma was still asleep when she left.

As she got closer she paused. She listened closer wanting to make sure she was hearing what she thought she was hearing.

A smile slowly formed on her face and she opened the door just wide enough to slip through.

There was her wife fixing dinner and singing.

Emma stood there for a good 30 seconds before Regina turned to get something from another shelf and saw her.

“Emma!”

“Sorry,” Emma said trying not to laugh. “I didn’t mean to interrupt your um dinner and a show.”

Regina gave her a look to show she didn’t appreciate being snuck up on or made fun of. “You can feel free to eat at your parents or Granny’s tonight.”

“Hey, no need to act rashly,” Emma said coming through. “I am just a little surprised that you …”

“That I can sing,”

“Well yeah, and the fact you would be singing Pink.”

“She is a highly rated musician who has some very good songs.”

Emma couldn’t keep the smile off her face. Never in a million years would she think that Regina Mills would be the type to sing out loud.

“Would you quit looking at me like that,” Regina said. “I have a meal to finish.”

“Oh, by all means don’t let me stop you.”

“Get out.”

“Fine, fine, just one more question -- do you take requests?”

“Miss Swan!” Regina said using her go to phrase to express outrage at her wife.

“Sorry, I will go,” Emma said, “But if you are feeling up to it I wouldn’t mind if you sang me to sleep tonight.”

The wooden spoon Regina had in her hand went flying over Emma as she ducked out of the room.


	12. Chapter 12

****

**Marriage day 120**

The three of them sat in the waiting area for their case to be called. The judge had ordered them to come back in four months for a status check in order to make sure all was well.

Regina had wanted to skip it, but Emma convinced her that skipping a court-ordered appointment wasn’t the best idea. Besides she said it would get them out of Storybrooke for the day.

The docket must have been full as there were many people waiting and they were already an hour past their scheduled time. Finally, their names were called. Instead of being brought before the bench though they were taken to the judge’s chamber. Attorneys weren’t involved and the judge said it was more of a welfare check than anything else.

“Hi Henry,” Judge Watson said. “How are you doing today?”

“I am good. We’re going to the Red Sox game tonight.”

“I am a big fan myself. Where are you sitting?”

“Along the first baseline.”

“Good seats,” he smiled. “I am glad to hear you are all taking the opportunity to see a game. “

“It’s mom’s first game.”

“Mom is Regina, right?” he asked looking at the two women.

“Yes,” Regina answered. They had spent one of the original sessions establishing who was mom and who was ma in the eyes of the court.

“So tell me how is married life treating you?”

Regina had already warned Emma that if she said or even thought about making light of things or making a joke, Regina was prepared to kill her.

“It’s good,” Regina answered. “I think like any newly married couple there has been some adjustment, but overall it’s going well. We are all under the same roof and able to spend time together as a family like tonight’s ball game. I think Henry really enjoys having both of him mothers around and it’s been nice.”

“Do you like having your moms under the same roof?”

“Yes,” Henry said. “I like not having to go back and forth between them. If I need anything they are either both there or at least one of them is. And I think they both make each other happy.”

Regina and Emma smiled at him before looking at each other.

“What about you Emma? How has married life been?”

“Great,” Emma said. “It’s just great.”

“Do you care to elaborate?”

“Like Regina said there was some adjustment time there, and I think like any other married couple there are always going to be good times and not-so-good times but getting through those times together is what matters. You read my file. You know what a lot of my life was like. I did stupid things and it cost me the chance to be a mother to Henry from the start. But I couldn’t have asked for a better mother than Regina was to him. And when I finally got my own shit together I suddenly found myself in their lives and now we’re a family. I got the one thing I’ve always been searching for, but was never sure I would find,” Emma said. “Maybe I didn’t find it, maybe they found me. All I know is this is what I want.”

Regina was openly staring at Emma, touched by the words she had just said. The judge too noticed her look and smiled.

“Well everything looks to be in order here so I am going to let you go and enjoy your family time.”

“Thank you, your honor,” Regina said as they stood to leave. They had just gotten to the door.

“By the way,” Judge Watson said. “Where are your rings?”

“Our rings?” Regina said and then looked down at her hand.

“I know you didn’t have rings when I married you but I would have thought by now you would have gotten them.”

“Um yes, it’s um …” Regina said.

“We are waiting,” Emma said.

“For what?”

“Well you see we got married here so none of our friends or family could be part of it and so we are waiting to exchange rings at another ceremony back home on our six-month wedding anniversary,” Emma said. “You’re more than welcome to come seeing as you married us the first time around.”

“I am flattered. Send the invite to my secretary and I will see if I am available.”

“Great,” Emma said.

They all walked out in silence. Then walked to the car in silence and got in.

“Did I just invite a judge to Storybrooke to see us get married again in front of friends and family?” Emma said.

Regina looked at her – her thoughts about this clear.

“What?” Emma said. “I panicked.”


	13. Chapter 13

 

**Marriage day 123**

Emma sat on the couch watching TV when Regina came in and turned it off.

“Hey, what was that for?”

“Perhaps you are forgetting we sort of have a wedding to plan,” Regina said.

“Oh yeah that. Can’t we just you know send an invite to the judge and wait for him to say he is busy?”

“And what if he says he can make it?”

“Then we get everyone down to town hall and do a quick like I do thing and then have an after party at Granny’s.”

“Miss Swan, if you want to ever become Mrs. Swan-Mills never, ever repeat that sentence in my earshot ever again. Now let’s go; I have several things to help us get started laid out on the dining room table. We have two months which means we need to make some tough decisions really quick.”

“What kind of decisions?” Emma said getting up and following her. She stopped when they got to the dining room. “You have got to be joking.”

Nearly the entire table was laid out with bridal magazines, different types of stationary for invitations, pictures of flowers and so much more.

“I assure you, I am not joking. Sit,” Regina said taking her own seat.

Emma approached the table with caution as if she was afraid the items on it would jump up and attack her.

“First we need to pick a Saturday that is close to our six-month anniversary, which should be easy enough, and then chose a venue and pick what kinds of invitations to send out since we have to send one to the judge,” Regina said. “Why don’t you start sorting the stationary out into two piles of ones you like and ones you don’t like, and I will look at the possible venues and give you my top three or five choices.”

Emma just stared at the stationary as Regina placed it in front of her.

 

**Marriage day 127**

 

“You look tired,” Charming said to his daughter as he got to the station. “Another late night of wedding planning.”

“It’s not a wedding. It’s a six-month anniversary commitment ceremony,” Emma replied. “And one which is surely going to kill me. I mean did you have any idea these things were so complicated?”

“No, not really. Then again your mom and I got married in the enchanted forest and as royalty I think there were people who did a lot of the stuff. I think I got fitted for my clothes and that was about it.”

“Please don’t mention clothes.”

He gave her a curious look, assuming the what to wear topic had already been brought up. He took a seat in front of her desk. “Look, I am going to be straight with you, this is going to get a lot worse before it gets better.”

“Oh no, of that I well aware. I mean I knew Regina was a little OCD, but damn this is like a whole other level. Did you know for instance that the type of stationary – the color, the feel, the lettering all have to be carefully chosen because each in their own way conveys a message about the couple?”

“Um … I was unaware.”

“Yeah me too. I am pretty sure I could now tell you what each color conveys, but fail the quiz on lettering and stationary.”

He laughed at her, even if he did feel sort of bad for her. “Do you know what you need?”

“A drink, preferably something straight from the bottle.”

“No. What you need is a wedding wingman – someone who can handle these details with Regina, freeing you from the duty and the risk involved in not picking out the right flower arrangements.”

“Not a bad idea, but don’t I then risk Regina’s wrath for not being involved?”

“No, not really. You see once she has this other person she will be more so busy consulting them and dealing with their enthusiasm over planning this commitment ceremony that she will forget all about you – at least in terms of planning this.”

Emmastudied her father a moment. “You have someone in mind don’t you?”

“Well, your mom may have mentioned her disappointment at not seeing your wedding.”

“Really? She would? With Regina?”

“Most definitely.”

 

**Marriage day 128**

“I agree, the white stationary is too conservative, and plain,” Snow said as she sat at the kitchen table with Regina.

“I was thinking maybe a silver or a gold,” Regina said.

“I think silver. It’s a little more understated than the gold yet still says sophistication and elegance,” Snow replied.

“Silver it is then,” Regina smiled. “Now, what is your preference on the feel of the stationary – Emma was thinking glossy, but …”

“No glossy,” Snow said. “This isn’t an invitation to a kegger. The stationary needs to have texture, something a person can feel yet not in a way that overpowers the raised lettering. And speaking of lettering have you chosen a font yet.”

“No. I am so behind I don’t know how I am going to pull this off.”

“You aren’t. We are,” Snow smiled. “Give me your top choices for the stationary texture and let’s get that decision out of the way first.”

Emma, who had been standing in the doorway, simply smiled and walked away. Clearly two of the most important people in her life had this handled.

 

**Marriage day 154**

Regina was feeling better about how things were going. With Snow’s help they had chosen the stationary – the color, texture, lettering and came up with the appropriate words to use to send out the invitations. Those were now on their way to people around town and of course the judge.

She had to admit that while she was slightly annoyed at Emma for her telling the judge they were having a six-month anniversary ceremony in front of friends and family in their town, she was also excited at the prospect of actually having a commitment ceremony (she wouldn’t let people call it a wedding).

Their wedding had been a hurried thing that was over before Regina had really thought about what it meant. Now, despite the condensed time table, she could plan something that she and Emma could remember for a lifetime.

She was sitting at her desk at work thinking about that – her and Emma sharing a lifetime together. She hadn’t really thought about in those terms but as she did now it made her happy.

She was Regina Swan-Mills and soon the people in town would all see it.

Yes they knew she and Emma had gotten married under unusual circumstances but for them to see that they were choosing to be with each other meant so much more. People would see they weren’t just doing this for Henry, that they were doing this because they wanted to be together.

She hadn’t said anything to Emma, but she was maybe a tad bit insecure that people thought Emma was only with her for Henry’s sake. Regina knew that wasn’t the case, but she still worried that other people thought that.

To have Emma stand up in front of those people and declare her love for Regina would mean the world to her.


	14. Chapter 14

 

**Marriage day 157**

Emma had been looking forward to this night – the first night where her mom wasn’t over, or she didn’t have to work or Regina was preoccupied – where she, Henry and Regina could just be alone.

She got off work and they immediately drove out of town, Emma having made reservations for them at a nice seaside restaurant. The meal was delicious and she stayed quiet through much of it, content to watch Henry and Regina interact. Seeing the two of them talk and Regina looking at Henry with that expression that only a mother could give – the one that says, ‘I remember when you couldn’t even walk, where did my beautiful baby go and why did he have to grow up?’

The two of them had this ease about each other that was different than her and Henry she had noticed. She supposed it was because Regina had raised them and they had spent so many years together where it was just the two of them. Occasionally Regina would catch her staring and flash that smile that made Emma want to melt. How had she gotten so lucky to get here, to find her family and be able to sit back in comfort knowing that is what they were, that they were family?

After dinner, they took Henry to the movie of his choice, Emma sitting in between them. Regina had placed her hand on hers much like she had the first time they had gone to a movie together. She had discovered in the course of their short marriage and ever since they had made love that one or the other almost always found a way to come into physical contact with the other. It was if they just needed that bit of reassurances that the other was still there.

Or maybe that was just Emma.

She had embraced the role of the one who had been supportive of the marriage from the get go, but the truth was she lived in fear that Regina would turn around and end it. She wasn’t so naïve that she didn’t know she had abandonment issues, but if Regina ever chose to leave her she was sure it would destroy her. After all it took to get them to this point, she wasn’t sure what she would do if it was taken from her.

She pushed those thoughts down inside her like she did every time they surfaced. She looked over at Regina and smiled even though Regina wasn’t paying attention to her. Then she looked at Henry. Yes, Emma Swan she thought, you are lucky.

**Marriage day 160**

Emma came into Regina’s office waving a card in her hand. “The judge isn’t coming,” she said excitedly.

“What?”

“Apparently our commitment ceremony interferes with his niece’s wedding, so he had to decline our invitation,” she said tossing the card on the table and taking a seat. “Isn’t it great? This means all the stressing over this is gone because we no longer have to put on a show for the judge.”

Regina picked up the card and read it and put it back down. She could tell Emma was extremely pleased by this. “I guess we can call people who has RSVPed and let them know the ceremony is off,” Regina said.

“What?” Emma said. “Why would we do that?”

“Oh, I though based on your reaction that you were wanting to cancel it since we don’t have how did you put it, “put on a show for the judge.’”

“I didn’t mean that I didn’t want to have the ceremony. I just meant you know the stress of having to do it for him –finding a way to get him into town, get him to not see this place is a little off – that kind of stress. I wasn’t suggesting we call the whole thing off. Christ woman you have been going at this non-stop with my mother, I am not sure which of you actually wants this more.”

“First off, never refer to me as woman. Secondly, my only concern is that you want this.”

Emma got up and came around the desk, bending down to kiss her wife. “I want this,” she said. “After all, how we can go on a honeymoon if we don’t do the whole ceremony first.”

“Honeymoon?”

“Yeah. You aren’t the only one who has been planning something,” she smiled.

Regina gave her a questioning look, “Were you planning on letting me know about these plans?”

“Nope.”

“Then how will I know what to pack?”

“Don’t worry, woman. You won’t need clothes where we are going,” she said moving away quickly before Regina could make her pay for the woman comment.

**Marriage day 163**

Regina marked the day off the calendar before turning off the lights to go to bed. The time of the ceremony was approaching quickly and she was afraid there was something she was forgetting to do. She had gone over her checklist yet again and everything seemed in order, but she couldn’t help but feel she was overlooking something.

She went upstairs – Emma having retired at least an hour ago. She entered the room and turned on her closet light and changed in there before getting into bed. She snuggled in closer to Emma who was sleeping already. She never thought she would get used to sleeping so well next to another person but strangely enough Emma made her feel so at ease here in bed. She found she was tired, but not sleepy so she lay there and ran her finger along Emma’s arm for a bit thinking about what their ceremony was going to be like. Even though she called it a commitment ceremony she knew it was nothing short of a wedding.

“If you keep touching me like that you are going to wake me up,” a tired Emma said.

“Would that be such a bad thing?” Regina responded.

Emma reached out and touched Regina’s side and then her leg. “You are wearing too many clothes for that to be a good thing,” Emma responded, turning over on her back.

Regina smiled and quickly straddled her wife, whom she was quite sure had decided it was time to go back to sleep, but Regina had other ideas. She leaned over and kissed Emma who reached up and touched her.

“Still too many clothes,” she said.

Regina laughed and took off her pajama top and Emma moved in entirely too fast for someone who was supposed to be sleeping and grabbed her breasts. Regina again kissed her enjoying the feeling of Emma hands on hers.

“Someone is liking this,” Emma said as she flicked at one of Regina’s now solid nipples.

“Always,” Regina said silencing her with another kiss. Regina kissed her way down Emma’s body until she reached the curve of her tank top. Emma sat up, divesting herself of the garment and pulling Regina into her for kisses. Their breasts pressed against each other and Regina moved her hips to apply more friction.

Regina pushed Emma back against the bed and resumed her path of kisses. She kissed around each breast but didn’t touch the nipples or use her hands. She continued down moving in between Emma’s legs where Emma helped her remove the shorts and panties she was wearing. Regina kissed down along her hips and thighs before moving back up again causing Emma to make a noise of disappointment.

“Patience,” Regina whispered.

“Easy for you to say.” Emma responded. “Your sexy ass wife hasn’t spent 10 minutes kissing your body.”

“Are you complaining?” Regina said stopping.

“No,” Emma said quickly. “Just establishing that you are a tease.”

Regina smiled knowing it was true. She did like bringing Emma to the brink slowly, but tonight was not one of those nights. She took one of the nipples into her mouth and sucked hard on it while twisting the other. Another thing she had learned about her wife – she didn’t mind the occasional rougher play.

“Fuck,” Emma said when Regina did it again.

“That’s exactly what I plan on doing my dear,” Regina said kissing her again while pressing their cores together.

“Pajama pants off,” Emma ordered her.

Regina hastily complied and this time when she pressed their bodies together she could feel Emma’s wetness. She remembered the first time she had cum from scissoring with Emma. They had been so hot for each other that as they had rubbed their clits together the response was inevitable.

But Regina had other pursuits in mind for the night. She shifted position so she could suck on one of Emma’s tits while pushing two of her fingers into Emma. “God,” Emma breathed out. Emma moved her hips up to increase the depth of Regina’s fingers.

Regina thrust harder and harder, never removing her mouth from Emma’s breast. She added another finger and pushed in harder and faster until she felt Emma’s muscles contract as the orgasm hit her.

Emma breathed loudly while Regina licked her fingers clean.

“Up,” Emma said.

“What?”

“Move up,” she said as Emma slid down. She indicated she wanted Regina on top of her and once she realized what Emma want she had her knees on either side of Emma’s head, her pussy positioned just above her mouth. Emma grabbed her thighs and sunk her tongue inside of Regina.

She bounced up and down on Emma’s tongue feeling filled even though she knew it was not possible. She made noises as she moved relishing the feel of her wife’s tongue.

When she came she fell forward, having to use the back board to stop herself.

She got off of Emma and laid down beside her.

“Can we sleep now?” Emma said wrapping her arm around her.

 

**Marriage day 164**

Regina woke suddenly sitting up.

“What is it?” Emma said.

“I remembered what I forgot.”

“You remembered what you forgot? Ok, what is it?”

Regina looked over at her. “The rings. We don’t have wedding rings. The one thing that started all of this and I completely forgot.”

“We can stop by the jewelry store at lunch time, no biggie,” Emma said.

“No biggie. Do you have any idea how long it takes to get rings?”

“No clue.”

Regina laid back down – they would never get acceptable rings in time.


	15. Chapter 15

 

**Marriage day 170**

“You look beautiful,” Snow said as she saw her daughter in her wedding dress for the first time.

Emma turned around to see herself in all of the mirrors.

“Do you think Regina will like it?”

“Yes,” Snow said. “I think she will like it.”

“Good because we don’t have time for another fitting.”

“I can’t believe you are getting married in six days.”

“I am already married.”

“You know what I mean.”

Emma smiled looking down at her dress. “Does this match Regina’s well?”

Snow smiled. Emma had been trying to get her to reveal what she knew of Regina’s dress for the last week.

“I think it matches fine,” Snow said.

“Since we are married already, don’t you think it’s a little ridiculous that she won’t tell me?”

“No. I am not siding with you on this one my daughter,” Snow said. “You will just have to wait.”

“I don’t like waiting.”

“It’s six more days,” she reminded her.

 

**Marriage day 171**

Regina and Henry were sitting on the couch as Emma returned home. They immediately broke apart as she came in.

“You two look like a couple of conspirators,” Emma said leaning against the door frame.

“Conspirators?” Regina said. “We were merely talking.”

“That I don’t believe,” Emma said. “What’s for dinner?”

“We ate already. There is a plate in fridge for you to warm up.”

Emma gave them another look before going into the kitchen.

Henry looked at Regina. “Do you think she suspects?”

“Yes, but she doesn’t know what to suspect exactly so we are good,” Regina said smiling and giving him a hug.

 

**Marriage day 175**

“We’re getting married tomorrow,” Emma said kissing Regina.

“I know,” she said kissing her back.

They were in Emma’s office, Regina sitting on Emma’s lap, her arms around her neck to keep balance and the ease of kissing.

Emma moved her head back. “You didn’t correct me that time and tell me it was a commitment ceremony.”

Regina kissed her, “I am getting a honeymoon out of it so I might as well let you call it a wedding. Care to tell me where we will be going after the reception?”

“Care to tell me what you are wearing to the wedding or why you and now everyone else seems to be awfully light on the ceremony details?”

“No,” Regina smiled kissing her.

“You know since this isn’t technically a wedding I don’t see why I have to stay at Ruby’s tonight instead of in bed with you.”

“Your mom has insisted on a few wedding traditions,” Regina said.

“Can you not mention my mom in a sentence after I mention our bed?”

Regina laughed and kissed her wife before she moving off of her. Emma tried to grab for her. “Tomorrow my wife,” she said pulling away.


	16. Chapter 16

 

**Marriage day 176**

When the door opened, Emma immediately woke up – greeted by Ruby who was carrying a cup of coffee for her and her mother who had a beaming smile for her.

“What time is it?” Emma asked sitting up and taking the coffee from Ruby.

“It’s just before 8,” Snow said.

“Eight, the wedding isn’t until three, I am going back to bed for an hour,” she said trying to hand the cup back to Ruby who laughed at her.

“Come on, get up,” Ruby said. “You are getting married today and there is lots to do.”

“I am putting on a dress and reciting vows with someone I am already married to, I don’t think that involves seven hours of prep time.”

“Thirty minutes,” Snow said. “We will give you thirty minutes and then you need to be in the shower.”

“What about breakfast?”

“Sleep or breakfast, you choose,” her mom smiled.

She groaned and pulled her blanket aside, “fine, feed me first.”

…

The alarm went off, but Regina was already awake. She turned it off and resumed standing there by the window looking out. She hadn’t slept well. She didn’t know if it was nerves or just not having Emma there beside her. Still she wasn’t about to let it ruin her day.

She had wanted this ceremony to be perfect – her gift to Emma, and she had to admit that she couldn’t have done it without Snow’s assistance. Snow had thought of things she hadn’t and kept her from stressing out too much. She didn’t really care what the others thought of it. All that mattered was what Emma thought of it, and now the day had arrived and she was struck by a small case of second guessing the direction she took with this ceremony.

There was nothing she could do about it now but start her day.

…

Emma was grateful when Ruby snuck her a bear claw while she was getting her hair done. It was taking forever and she had gotten hungry. She was at one of stylists in town and wondered if Regina was at the other one. Snow had confiscated her phone the night before to keep her from texting or calling Regina, even though Emma pointed out that nothing in traditions stated she couldn’t speak with her intended.

She was beginning to think she might be addicted to Regina as even these hours apart were driving her crazy. She just wanted to get to the church and see her wife.

“Do you think it’s odd that Regina didn’t insist on a rehearsal dinner?” she asked Ruby.

“Why is that odd?”

“You know she’s kind of anal about things and I got to thinking last night that it was weird we didn’t have one.”

“Yes, but we all know what we are doing so why practice it?”

“I guess,” Emma shrugged. The truth was she wasn’t entirely sure what she was supposed to be doing. But since the goal was for them to both be standing there in front of the altar – at least she knew what side she was supposed to be on as they had gone and scoped it out – she supposed the rest of it didn’t matter. She was suspicious though because she knew Regina was planning something and she clearly had Snow and Henry on her side for it.

As her hair was being done, others had worked on her nails. She was almost able to take a nap while they were doing it. She wouldn’t even be going through all this trouble if she didn’t think that this was what Regina would want.

….

Regina looked at herself in the floor length mirror. This was only the second time she had worn it and she couldn’t help but circle around several times to be sure that it fit perfectly and moved perfectly with her body. A smile graced her lips as she thought about Emma seeing her wearing this for the first time. She was sure Emma would like it – especially the form fitting parts, but since it played into the big part of the surprise she was still slightly unsure.

“You look beautiful.”

She turned to see Henry standing in the doorway.

“Do you think Emma will like it?”

“I think she will love it,” he said approaching her.

“Well you look quite handsome yourself,” she said admiring her son all dressed up.

“I am thankful you didn’t make me wear a tie.”

“You are lucky it didn’t quite match the attire or you would be wearing one. But I suppose tie wearing can wait until your first formal school dance.” She smiled at him and they shared a hug. She pulled him in view of the mirror so she could see what they would like standing side by side as they would be at the wedding. After all, Henry was the best man.

…

Emma wanted to jump up and down in celebration when they told her that her hair was finally done. She looked at herself in the mirror and had to admit that the curls made her look – she wasn’t sure what the word was – not more feminine but definitely softer. She was still looking in the mirror when her mother returned from wherever she had been for the last 45 minutes.

“Stay seated,” she said as Emma was half way out of the seat. “We have one more final addition for your hair.”

She unwrapped something from a piece of cloth and handed it to the stylist who put it on her Emma’s head, then fixing the hair all around it. Emma could only stare in the mirror.

“Do you like it?”

“Um, yeah,” Emma said. She was transfixed by the crown that now encircled her head.

“It’s a replica of the one I wore when I was princess,” Snow said and Emma looked at her.

“It is?”

“Yes. You’re a princess and it’s only fitting that as royalty you wear a crown when you get married.”

Emma reached up and touched it, almost afraid it would break as it looked so thin. It weighed next to nothing yet seemed to have a substance to it that she couldn’t begin to describe. It almost looked like a spider had spun a web and it was frozen in crown form as she could make out fine lines etched throughout it even though to touch it, it was smooth.

“I don’t want to see ungrateful, but you don’t think Regina will be bothered by this do you? I mean she was queen.”

Snow smiled, “She used her magic to fashion the crown after I had mentioned I would like to see my daughter wearing one. So yes, she will be more than fine with it.”

Emma smiled her eyes still stuck on the crown. “Thank you mom,” she said finally.

“You’re welcome.”

…

Regina arrived early. She had spent much of her time – and her magic – here last night and she needed to make sure it was all still set. It all seemed to be in order so she let herself relax momentarily. She walked up and took her position, standing there to picture how it would all look

…

Getting in the dress after having her hair done was a special little torture Emma was glad she would never have to do again. Once the dress was on though she had to admit she looked really good. She could almost feel Regina’s eyes raking over the white dress, thinking about what was underneath it and how she would be enjoying it later. Emma was already thinking the same thing about seeing Regina’s dress.

Emma’s dress was strapless with a closed back, chapel train that only flowed about three feet behind her. The top was a chantilly lace whose web like pattern she realized closely matched her crown. Overall it was a simple dress, Emma not wanting to wear anything too frilly because it wasn’t her style.

“You look amazing,” her father said.

She turned to see him there. She had changed at her parents’ home while Ruby and Snow went to go change at Ruby’s. They had left not long after she was dressed fully. She had been waiting for perhaps 30 minutes just admiring herself in the mirror when James showed up. Looking at her father now, she wondered what kind of wedding she was attending. He noticed her attention and looked down at his own garment.

“Do you like it?” he asked.

She gave him a curious look. “You wouldn’t find that kind of suit anywhere around here.”

“No,” he smiled. “Not short of a costume shop I suppose. In our world though, this would be very appropriate for a man to wear when attending a wedding, especially the father of the bride. It actually is very similar to what I wore when I married your mother.”

“Why do I get the feeling that all Regina’s talk about having a traditional wedding didn’t mean so much tradition for this world?”

Charming smiled at her. “It’s almost time go, are you ready?”

“Yes,” she said.

He offered his arm to her, which she took with a smile on her face.

…

“Um, we just past by the church,” Emma observed. She was sitting in the back of the limo with her father.

“Don’t worry, the driver knows where to take us.”

“You aren’t kidnapping me are you? I mean if you had an issue with me marrying Regina it would have been better if you spoke up sooner.”

He smiled at her, “Your mother and I just want you to be happy and Regina clearly makes you happy so we’re not going to stand in the way of that. You know your mother has always wanted to have a special relationship with Regina – ever since Regina saved her life as a kid, and planning this wedding together I think they finally got there. Believe it or not, Snow has always been the one to convince me that Regina was possible of good. Have I had my doubts about that, certainly I have, but when I see her look at her you, I know she loves you.”

“I love her,” Emma said. “I know it seems crazy but she and I just fit together if you know what I mean.”

“I do know what you mean,” he said

She noticed they were driving out of the town proper and resisted the urge to ask where they were going, and almost did when she saw it.

“Holy shit,” she said. “Is that real?”  
James laughed, “Not entirely. It’s an illusion.”

She stared up as the castle as they got closer to it. It was one hell of an illusion she thought.

The limo parked outside of the drawbridge and her father got out moving around to let her out. Again he offered her his arm, which she took.

“Welcome to your fairy tale wedding Emma,” he said.

She couldn’t respond. She was too astounded at what she was seeing. He led her across the drawbridge and through a courtyard. She kept looking all around her. They entered the castle and there were two large doors looming before them. Two men dressed in formal wear reminiscent of the Enchanted Forest were there. Emma recognized them as two of the mechanics from Danny’s Garage. Charming nodded to them and they pulled open the doors just as the wedding march began to play.

Charming led Emma in as the guests rose to their feet. It was as if all of Storybrooke was there, and they were all dressed as if they were back home. She almost tripped over her own feet staring at them. Her father led her down the aisle and as soon as she caught sight of Regina she almost did trip.

Regina wasn’t wearing a dress.

She wore black pants with high healed boots, a white shirt that was cut low but had a short standing collar. There was a red vest just peaking out of the black jacket that tapered down in the back. It looked like a mixture of a tuxedo and what her father was wearing, yet nothing about it seemed manly. Emma thought she looked like pure sex and she wasn’t sorry at all about thinking that.

Standing next to her was Henry wearing a similar version of what Regina was wearing, although more like what her father was wearing. Both were smiling at her.

They got to the front and Emma took Regina’s hand as she stepped up to stand in front of her. “Wow,” Emma said. She didn’t care if she was supposed to stay quiet or not. She needed to stay that.

“I’ve always said black was my color,” Regina smiled.

Now that she was close up, Emma could see that there was tracings of red thread throughout the black jacket – very subtle and not able to be seen except for close up. The pattern matched the web-like pattern of the lace on Emma’s dress.

The collar on the jacket rose up just above the shirt’s collar. She saw Henry’s was the same, meaning he couldn’t wear a tie. She knew he had complained about the idea of wearing a tie, and she thought this was a handsome alternative for him. For Regina it highlighted her neck in a way that made Emma want to clamp her mouth down on it.

She was so distracted in fact she missed that the minister had begun speaking already. She looked into Regina’s eyes and saw nothing but love reflected back at her.

“It’s my understanding the couple has written their own vows,” the minister said. “Regina, you may begin.”

Regina smiled at Emma. “I don’t know how I got here. I honestly don’t. I don’t know how or why fate or some higher power let me stand here in front of you like this. And maybe it doesn’t matter how or why. Maybe all that matters is that I am here standing before the woman I love. Emma Swan, I pledge my life to you from this day forward. I give you my life, my heart, my soul for you to do with what you wish because I have no use for them if I can’t share them with you. This -- you, me, Henry, this is what I want. And all I want in return is an eternity of this.”

She turned and got the ring from Henry which she now slipped onto Emma’s finger. She recognized what it was immediately – it was made of magic just like her crown. It was silver and it simple and it meant the world to her suddenly that she entirely missed the cue that it was her time to speak.

“Emma,” the minister said urging her to speak.

“Yeah,” she said smiling. “Um … I completely forgot what I was going to say. I realize that whatever it was, it wouldn’t be adequate after the words you just said. I love you Regina. I don’t know how to say it any better than that.” She turned toward the guests, “You see this gorgeous woman right here? I love her,” she said more loudly. “She is my wife, she is the mother of my son and she is the other half of my soul.” She turned back to Regina. “I promise you an eternity of this, an eternity of my love. All I want it to be able to wake up beside you; comfort you when you are feeling down, share popcorn with you and Henry on movie nights. I want this – you, me and Henry – for an eternity.”

She reached behind her and got the ring from Ruby, her maid of honor. She saw it was identical to hers and she placed it on Regina’s finger.

“I love you,” she whispered and she leaned forward and kissed her.

The minister cleared his throat. “We weren’t quite there yet,” he said. Emma merely shrugged and stepped back to let the minister finish. She never heard what else he said until he pronounced that they were married and she could kiss her bride.

…

 

Emma danced with her father for the second time at her reception. They had already done the official daughter-father dance near the beginning and the only reason she was dancing with him again and not Regina was because she wanted to make sure all was set for her and her bride to go on their honeymoon.

“I have everything well in hand,” Charming reassured her.

“I know, I know. But nine days is a long time and you guys are busy enough with my little brother and now you have to watch the station and take care of Henry.”

“You could always stay home if you are that worried about it,”

Emma glanced over at Regina who was talking with Tink and said, “No way. I am not missing my honeymoon.”

Charming smiled at her, “You know your mother and I were really happy you and Regina decided to have this public ceremony. We’ve missed so much of your life; we shouldn’t have to miss any more of the big moments.”

“Well I am still waiting on those last 28 years of birthday presents,” Emma said.

“What say I don’t give you the sex talk before your honeymoon and we call it even?”

“Deal.”

“Have you told Regina where you are going yet?”

“No, although she has asked me about four times already since the reception started. She has taken up guessing.”

“Has she gotten close?”

“Nope. It’s been fun torturing her about it. I told her it was payback for the surprise wedding she pulled off.”

“I am sure she will love it.”

“I know I will. The temperatures are not super high there but I think I can convince Regina to keep the clothes to a minimum.”

“There are some things your father doesn’t need to hear.”

They broke off from dancing and Emma returned to Regina’s side. It was time for them to get moving Emma decided as she put her arm around her wife and gave her a kiss. “What say we do one more sweep around the room and then head to our honeymoon?”

“Would that be our honeymoon in Bali?”

“No,” Emma. “You will have to wait until we get to the airport.”

“Airport?”

“Yes, how else did you expect me to whisk you away on a honeymoon?”

“Magic.”

“Yeah, that doesn’t work so well out in the real world.”

“I am sure we could handle it. Our magic works stronger together.”

Emma gave her a curious look, “Oh God, you’ve never flown before.”

“Of course not. When would I have had the occasion to do that?”

“Hey, it’s not a big deal, really I’ve flown many times and the plane has never crashed.”

“That’s not actually comforting.”

“Sorry,” Emma said. “Look if you don’t want to fly I am come up with another honeymoon spot that we can drive to.”

“No,” Regina said. “I am sure it will be fine. I mean how bad could it be?”

…

20 hours later

“Um Regina, we’re here,” Emma said. “We need to get off the plane now.”

Emma was a little concerned with how pale Regina was. The other woman hadn’t said much during the 15 hours of flight time to their destination – San Sebastian.

They had left the reception, their bags already packed and had driven to Portland where they caught a flight first to New York for a short layover and then on to Spain. When they had disembarked in New York Emma had to hold Regina’s hand to get her back on a plane. She kept talking about how magic was a more efficient way to travel and Emma end up telling one person that Regina had too much to drink so the wouldn’t pay attention to her magic talk.

Now Regina looked like she was shell-shocked. Again she took Regina’s hand and led her off the plane where Emma half expected her to kneel down and kiss the ground.

“We are not flying back,” Regina said once they were through the airport and in the car that would take them to their hotel. “Magic, we can use magic.”

Emma wasn’t about to disagree with her and she ignored the driver who gave them a funny look.

They arrived at the hotel and Emma tipped the driver and they checked in. By the time they got to their suite Regina seemed to gain some color back in her cheeks. She opened the doors to the balcony and stepped outside. Emma came up behind and wrapped her arms around her.

“What do you think?”

“It’s breathtaking,” Regina said as she looked out over the water.

Emma pulled her around and kissed her. The one bad part about a long flight for the honeymoon was actually getting to this part of the honeymoon. Regina felt the same as she eagerly returned those kisses as she pushed Emma back into their room, pulling off Emma’s shirt in the short trip to the bed. A few seconds later her bra joined it on the floor.

“I love you,” Regina said between kisses and as she grabbed both breasts. “I loved seeing the look on your face as you walked down the aisle. I loved the words you said and the moment you put that ring on my finger.”

She stopped talking as she kissed Emma again and again. When she stopped again it was to unbutton Emma’s pants and pull them and her panties down. Emma, who had removed her shoes when they had entered, stepped out of the pants and was greeted with Regina’s tongue on her clit.

Things were moving fast and Emma didn’t mind in the least bit. She reveled in the feel of Regina’s tongue moving around, over and along her clit and down through her slit and into her. She held on to Regina’s hair as her wife used her mouth to pleasure her, but as fast as it took she also knew this was just the opening act and Regina had no intention of letting her cum that easily. As if to prove the point, Regina stood up and kissed her again. She tasted herself in Regina’s mouth and moaned into the kiss when Regina grabbed her ass cheeks hard.

This was definitely going to be one of those times when Regina wanted to be in control and Emma was more than happy to let her be.

Regina pushed Emma back onto the bed with a smirk, “Get comfortable.”

“Oh I am comfortable, but you my dear are wearing too much clothing.”

“Am I?”

“Oh yes, there is a rule that all honeymooners need to be naked within the first 30 minutes of arriving at the hotel. If you hurry you will make it and we won’t have to punish you later.”

“Well I wouldn’t want to break any honeymoon laws,” Regina said pulling off her shirt. She removed her bra slowly and tossed it to Emma.

“Do I get your panties next?”

Regina smiled as she took off her khakis.

“Holy shit, you aren’t wearing any underwear,” Emma said. “This entire time you’ve been like that.”

“I thought for sure you could tell when you grabbed my ass in that corner in the New York airport.”

“No, but now I am wishing I had taken advantage of that. We could have joined the mile-high club on the flight over.”

“Don’t ruin the mood by mentioning that death trap with wings.”

“Sorry, please continue.”

“Thank you. Now where was I?”

“I think you were getting ready to join your wife on the bed for some honeymoon sex.”

“Oh that’s right,” Regina said and she moved quickly to be not just on the bed, but on top of her wife, kissing her once more. “Have I told you how amazing you looked in that dress?”

“Yes, about a hundred times, or at least once for every time I said you looked beautiful in that suit.”

“I believe the last thing you said was I looked fuckable in and out of that suit.”

Emma kissed her back, “Totally fuckable.”

She wrapped her arms around Regina once more, wanting to feel her entire body against hers as they kissed. They ended up on their sides facing each other as they kissed and touched each other. Sometimes her leg was in between Regina’s; sometimes Regina would bend down to suck on her nipples, but despite their movements they always seemed to come back to kissing each other – deeply.

Regina began to rub Emma’s pussy, but again not with the intention of making her cum yet. Emma felt a finger slide through her folds and back up – once, twice and then Emma watched as Regina took that finger into her mouth and ran her tongue along it.

Jesus, Emma thought that might be one of the most sensual things she had ever seen. She needed more of this woman and so she pushed her back down on to the bed and straddled her. She leaned over and latched onto the side of Regina’s neck using her tongue to flick that spot just behind the ear that she knew gave Regina goosebumps. Regina had her hand on her tits once again as Emma made use of her new position to rub her pussy against Regina’s as she continued to kiss her neck.

“I love you,” she said in Regina’s ear. “I love you my wife.”

“I love you too,” Regina said directing her head back so she could kiss her. Regina was pushing her hips up to keep the movement of their pussies going until Emma moved so she could take one of Regina’s nipples into her mouth. She sucked on the hardened flesh and then bit lightly on it – well not too light as she got a dose of Regina’s fingernails in her back for the move. It didn’t hurt and Emma found it arousing.

She started to move down lower, but Regina stopped her and rolled their positions over. “My turn.”

Regina wasted no time going down on her. This time Emma knew it was designed to make her cum. She used her tongue like a weapon, spearing her clit first, pushing it upwards with just her tongue before spreading her legs farther apart and entering her. Emma felt the tongue moving in and out and she felt like heaven had descended upon her. She looked down past her stomach having to see Regina down there working so hard to give her pleasure. She had to admit she loved watching Regina going down on her.

It was like watching porn but trying not get caught at it.

Regina continued to use her tongue to delve inside her and Emma put her head back down on the pillow, gripping the sheets. She wanted to cum yet wanted to hold off at the same time.

“I fucking love you,” she breathed out. “I love you Regina. God, Regina, God.”

She pushed her pussy down on that tongue as it entered her and was rewarded with an orgasm that flashed through her body like lightning connecting with water. Regina crawled back up her body and kissed her and again Emma rejoiced in the taste of herself on Regina’s tongue.

“You are so beautiful,” Regina said looking down at her. “I could be content to just stare at you all day.”

“Oh no you don’t,” Emma smiled. “It’s my turn.”


	17. Chapter 17

 

**Marriage day 180**

Emma and Regina sat at a café in the older section of San Sebastian. They were on the third day of their honeymoon, and out of the hotel room for their longest amount of time. Emma had thought making love to Regina wouldn’t be any different now seeing as they were married for nearly six months before their honeymoon, but that first time in the hotel room had showed her that it could be different.

After Regina had gone down on her, Emma took over and didn’t stop until her wife was completely, utterly satisfied and Emma couldn’t help but smile that she had essentially forced Regina into sleeping because she had worn her out.

“You are doing it again,” Regina said.

Emma smiled, as she asked, “What am I doing?”

“I was tired,” Regina said. “Being awake for every minute of that terrifying flight after our wedding, I was tired.”

“I know,” Emma said. “Which is why I put you to sleep.”

Regina rolled her eyes.

She had to admit Emma had chosen well in her choice of honeymoon locations. This city had an old world charm that appealed to Regina. She had purchased a tourist guide and had been reading about some of the local history. The Enchanted Forest had so much history that it made living in Maine seem like America was a newborn. Yes more than 200 years, but there were places in Europe like San Sebastian that could scoff at a mere 200 years.

Their first day she had asked Emma why San Sebastian.

Emma had said she wanted someplace that was not a stereotypical honeymoon spot like the Bahamas – although she reserved the right to take Regina there later if only to see her lying around in a bikini for several days. She had never been to another country so had wanted to go overseas.

One thing she mentioned to Regina had caught her off guard slightly. Emma said she also researched countries to make sure they were homosexual friendly. The thought hadn’t even occurred to Regina. She knew there were people who would never accept same-sex couples, but honestly it wasn’t something she had thought about. When two people loved each other it shouldn’t matter, she told Emma, earning a deep kiss from her wife.

After eating a light lunch, they set out again, walking mostly to take in the sights. Every where they went, they held hands, took picture of places to show Henry and took several shots of each other.

Regina had wanted to walk around and look at the buildings. She always found architecture to be interesting and San Sebastian had many different types to admire. She would point out things she liked or note a similarity to things from the Enchanted Forest. Emma listened to all she had to say although Regina doubted Emma was as interested as she was. Emma would just look at her and smile.

The whole day was perfect in Regina’s mind.

When they returned to the hotel room, despite Emma wanting other things, Regina insisted they shower and get ready for dinner. She had specialty ordered a couple of dresses and had them sent to the hotel room earlier. She was going to take Emma out tonight and she wasn’t skimping on anything.

She was dressed before Emma and putting her earrings on when Emma emerged from the bathroom. Regina stopped what she was doing and just stared. While she had chosen a little black dress for herself, she had adorned Emma in a silver one. Between her blonde hair and her fair skin, Regina thought she was looking at an angel.

“We’re going to be late for dinner if all you are going to do is stand there and stare.”

Regina smiled, “I guess I do have time to stare at you during dinner.”

“I probably won’t notice,” Emma said coming up to her. “If only because I will be too busy staring you.”

They shared a kiss and then Regina finished putting on her earring and they headed downstairs. Regina had rented a limo for the evening and as soon they were inside it – the driver already knowing where to go – she kissed Emma again. The limo was stocked with champagne and she poured some for each of them. They sipped their drinks, sitting close to each other in the backseat simply enjoying each other’s company.

The restaurant Regina had chosen was not too far away, and while it wasn’t the most premier of the places available it offered her one thing she was looking for – privacy. As much as she wouldn’t mind showing off how sexy Emma looked, she wanted to be able to bask in the glow of the honeymoon high without interruptions.

And she was still on a high.

From the moment she saw Emma walking down the aisle she had been living in her own fairy tale – ironic she knew.

This was how marriage was supposed to be, how it was supposed to feel. As much as she told herself she wasn’t going to do it, she had thought about how different her life would be if it had simply started in Storybrooke and not back home. If Emma had been her only marriage everything would have been different.

“Penny for you thoughts,” Emma asked noticing Regina no longer seemed to be mentally in the same car as her.

Regina smiled at her as they felt the limo stop – they were there. She took Emma’s hand. “I was just thinking how lucky I am.”

“I don’t know, I feel like the lucky one,” Emma said kissing her,

The driver opened the door for them and they exited the vehicle hand in hand. They entered the restaurant, Regina giving their names and they were led back to a small nook – the kind of privacy Regina had been looking for. They were closed off on three sides and the entrance to it was positioned in a way that they couldn’t see the other tables in the restaurant proper unless they moved to see.

She ordered a bottle of wine after consulting the list and then they listened as the waiter reviewed the night’s specials. She ordered a chicken-based pasta while Emma went with a lobster-based pasta. Their meals prompted a conversation about different foods in the Enchanted Forest, which Emma was more than happy to have missed eating growing up. Regina had to laugh when Emma commented on how unsanitary it must have been without actual regulations. Regina admitted she had a point but at the same time it wasn’t like they knew things like food regulations so they didn’t think anything of it.

Their food was exquisite and declined the dessert mostly because the meal itself was more than enough. Throughout dinner, Regina found her eyes drawn to Emma’s lips as they glided along her fork. The limo came to pick them up outside and she instructed the driver to just drive; she didn’t care where, just drive until she told him to return to the hotel. The tinted windows and the divider between them and the driver gave them even more privacy. As the car began to move, Regina was kissing those lips she had been admiring.

When Regina kissed her Emma knew they were going to be having sex in the back of the limo. She was all for it.

She deepened the kiss immediately letting Regina know she was all in.

“I have a surprise for you,” Regina said looking her in the eyes.

“And what would that be?”

Regina brought Emma’s hand down and up under her dress and Emma’s eyes got wide.

“No wonder I couldn’t detect a panty line,” Emma smiled.

She brought her hand out from between Regina’s legs, but only so she could get her wife to adjust positions in order to take the dress off of her.

“Someone has been shopping,” Emma said taking in the black garter belt and stockings.

“Do you like?”

“Very much,” Emma said. She ran her finger along the top of Regina’s bra slowly. She leaned over and kissed the top of each breast. Regina almost always wore front-clasping bras to which Emma was appreciative of. She undid the clasp and freed what she considered to be two of perfect formations. Emma kissed around the tops and then used her tongue to tease each nipple.

Once each had hardened she began using her fingers to tweak and pull on them while she kissed along Regina’s neck. She stopped and pulled back so she could take her own clothes off. She kept Regina from removing her garter and stockings. Not only did she love the way they looked on her wife since Regina wasn’t wearing any panties she had all the access she needed.

Still she took some time running her hands up and down those legs to feel the stockings before taking up position between Regina’s legs. She spread the legs farther apart, keeping her hands on Regina’s knees for a moment before she took her first taste for the evening. She made a firm point with her tongue and ran it slowly up her slit.

She flattened out her tongue and took a wider sweep this time.

Regina already had her hands on Emma’s head, not applying pressure but she did have her fingers woven into Emma’s hair.

Emma continued to work her tongue along her clit before entering her with two fingers.

“Emma.”

God she loved to hear her name come from Regina’s mouth when she was being pleasured.

She sucked hard on Regina’s clit while moving in and out of her. She knew it wouldn’t take long for Regina at this rate. She kept working her hard so that Regina was panting and this time she was pushing on Emma’s head. She came hard and Emma licked her clean as Regina just rested her head back against the seat.

…

When they returned to the hotel, they shared a shower and then changed clothes. Both of them were awake so they decided to take a late night stroll. They were a few blocks from the hotel, just walking hand in hand.

“You know I was thinking about earlier when you were saying how lucky you were,” Emma said. “I think we’re both lucky, and so is Henry. Everything about us from an outside observer probably screams there is no way we are here right now on our honeymoon. But we beat the odds.”

Regina smiled at her, “Yes we did.”

**Marriage day 185**

Emma woke to an empty bed.

She sat up and noticed the doors to the balcony was open and there was a slight breeze coming in which was cooling off the room significantly. It was probably what woke her up in the first place as she was normally a fairly heavy sleeper. She got out of bed and pulled on the shorts and T-shirt she had discarded rather quickly earlier when they had gone to bed.

Emma, who shivered a little, walked out onto the balcony where Regina was sitting on one of the chairs just staring out at the view. She hadn’t even noticed Emma come out.

“Hey, everything ok?” Emma asked taking the other chair.

“Yeah,” Regina said looking over at her. “Except the honeymoon is almost over.”

“It had to end sometime.”

“I know. It’s just been really nice being here with you. I do miss Henry though.”

“I miss him too. Just think of how excited he will be when we get back and give him his presents.”

Regina stared off at the scenery once more and Emma sat there and stared at her. Her wife was so beautiful and seeing her here in the middle of the night on this balcony with a low level of light shining on them from the moon made her seem even more enchanting. She slid from the chair and moved so she was kneeling in front of Regina, drawing her attention back from the view and onto her.

“You know the honeymoon isn’t over yet, and since you insist on using your magic to get us back you have bought us a little more time.”

“I told you my plan had merit,” Regina said.

“Yes, well I still don’t like the idea of you transporting us across an ocean, but I am going to trust that you know what you are doing. In the meantime, I was saying that we have more time yet before our honeymoon is over.”

Regina smiled down at her. “I take if you have an idea of what to do with that time.”

“Not all of it, I don’t want to kill you from exhaustion and dehydration but yes I have an idea on how to spend some of that time,” Emma said. Regina was wearing only a robe out on the deck and Emma would have thought she would be cold but that wasn’t the case as she placed her hands on Regina’s knees and moved them slowly up her thighs.

“Perhaps we should go inside,” Regina said.

“Says the woman that almost had me cumming on a boat yesterday,” Emma said.

Regina laughed thinking of how they took a sail around the coast the day before and while the captain was busy sailing, Regina took more than a little advantage of having Emma so scantily clad next to her.

Emma stood and offered Regina a hand and they headed back indoors, Regina shutting the door and closing the curtain. The room was suddenly much darker but Emma didn’t need any light as she pushed the robe off of Regina’s shoulders. It dropped to the ground and Emma placed her hands on her wife’s hips and pulled her in for a kiss. They had made love earlier that night but that didn’t stop Emma from wanting more.

There was something about Regina that made her constantly want more.

She wasn’t looking for a slow pace now though as she dropped to her knees and began to lick Regina’s clit. Emma had a very specific goal in mind – a goal attached to a stop she made in a little shop earlier that day. She grabbed Regina’s ass as she delved her tongue deep inside. Regina had gone down on her earlier in the shower and the view of her on her knees with the water cascading down her body made it not last long for Emma.

She continued to lick, taste and suck until she was sure Regina was overflowing with wetness. She stood and led Regina to the bed, asking her to lie down. She walked over to the closet where she had put her earlier purchase, Regina who knew what was in the bag was watching her every move.

They had gone rounds over the whole Regina not wanting to fly thing and for Emma to agree, well, she was going to get something from the deal.

She quickly stripped and pulled on the strap on. It was an average sized dildo as she didn’t want to make Regina uncomfortable. Emma would have been too embarrassed to take this back on the plane with them but since they weren’t flying she went ahead and purchased it. She crawled up on the bed and over Regina’s body, kissing her once more.

“Are you sure about this?” Emma asked. She had wanted to fuck Regina like this before but hadn’t broached the subject until they were here. She felt a little guilty about using Regina’s fear of flying to get her to agree to this deal, but only a little guilty because she had seen the glint in Regina’s eyes when she had picked it out.

“Yes,” Regina smiled. She almost pointed out to Emma that it wasn’t like she had never had sex with a man before, but bit her tongue.

“Good,” Emma said.

She continued to kiss Regina at first before using her hand to rub the dildo up and down Regina’s slit. She was still plenty wet. God, she thought, what did she ever do to deserve being able to touch this woman like this. When she was ready she slowly pushed it in and Regina let out a small moan as she did. Emma brought it back out and then in once more again slowly, letting Regina get used to it.

Once she was sure Regina was more than getting into it as based on how sharply her nails were digging into Emma’s back, Emma began to go faster. Using her hips she pushed into Regina, enjoying the moans and sounds coming out of her mouth. Emma looked down upon her wife as she was fucking her and thought again of how Regina made her want more. She wanted this woman to be hers forever, to always be able to touch her, hold her, kiss her. She wanted to wake up beside her in the morning and wrap her arms around her at night.

There wouldn’t be a time that she wouldn’t want this woman below her. Even if they never had sex again – God forbid – she never wanted to be parted from her. Emma wanted to live their lives together forever, maybe raise another child, have grandchildren, have everything.

She was breathing hard from the exertion and she was getting into it so much it was almost like she could feel Regina’s inner walls caressing the dildo. It was pressing back against her clit and Emma realized she too was going to cum as she could tell it was building in her and in Regina. She thrust in a few more times and as Regina came Emma felt such love for her it was like her body was flowing with lava and she called out Regina’s name as she came.

She had enough of her mind left to pull out and collapse next to her panting wife.

“What was that?” Regina said after a moment.

“Honey if you don’t know what that was you haven’t been paying attention,” Emma said still trying to catch her breath.

“No,” Regina said. “I thought for a moment there you used magic.”

“Magic? Um no that was 100 percent sex machine Emma there,”

Regina chuckled, “I must have been mistaken. Then again I wasn’t really paying attention. That was incredible.”

Emma kissed her. “You are incredible.”


	18. Chapter 18

 

**Marriage day 186**

“It’s not too late to book a flight,” Emma said as they carried their bags with them to the restroom in the lobby. They had checked out but needed a place to actually transport from and Regina chose the restroom as it provided some privacy.

Regina merely looked at Emma. “Just keep a hold of all your stuff and me.”

Emma held her hand and Regina closed her eyes to concentrate. She had put a spell on the door to keep anyone from coming in until they were gone. She called up her magic, wrapped around her and Emma and she felt it jolt through her like lightening.

They appeared in their bedroom and Regina fell to one knee, Emma immediately dropping her bags and kneeling beside her. “Are you ok?”

“Yes,” Regina nodded. “It took a little more out of me than I expected.”

“I knew we should have flown.”

“It’s fine,” Regina said standing up. “I am fine.” She gave Emma a kiss to reassure her. “Now let’s unpack and go pick up our son.”

 

**Marriage day 204**

Emma held the door open for Regina and Henry as they entered Granny’s to eat dinner. Regina had said she didn’t feel like cooking dinner although she had gotten out some meat to thaw out that morning. They took their seats with Emma sitting with Henry across from Regina. They ordered their food and as Henry was talking Emma studied Regina.

Ever since they had returned from their honeymoon something had been off with Regina. That first night back she had gone to bed early and Emma had to wake her the next morning when the alarm failed to wake her. Regina never slept that deeply.

When Emma questioned her after the second such night of sleeping, Regina conceded that the magic she expended to get them back may have exhausted her more than she had let on. Emma felt bad, knowing she should never have agreed to it in the first place.

It wasn’t just the being tired, which had come and gone and come back again since they had been back, but Regina seemed more moody as well.

Their food came and while Regina got a salad, Emma and Henry got cheeseburgers. Regina had taken only a bite or two from the salad when she excused herself to go to the bathroom. When she was still in there after several minutes Emma got up to go check on her. She found Regina standing over the sink, hands on each side of it, her head down.

“What’s wrong?” Emma said immediately.

“Nothing,” Regina said. “It’s just the smell of the food got me a little nauseous.”

“I think you should let Doctor Whale check you out,” Emma said.

“I’m fine.”

“No you aren’t. You’ve been in here for like six minutes now. You look pale like you are going to puke.”

“Don’t say puke,” Regina winced and Emma was sure she got a shade paler.

“Come on, if you aren’t going to let me take you to the doctor right now, you are going to let me take you home.”

Regina didn’t argue and took Emma’s hand as they walked out. It took a few moments for their food to be packed up and Emma drove them home.

“I’m going to turn in,” Regina said as soon as they were in the house.

“Are you ok mom?” Henry asked.

“I am fine dear. Just tired.”

Emma and Henry watched as Regina disappeared upstairs. “Is she ok?” Henry asked.

“No,” Emma said. “And she is about to hate me.”

“Why?”

“Because I am taking her to the doctor tomorrow even if I have to handcuff her to do it.”

 

**Marriage day 205**

Emma rushed out of bed as soon as she heard Regina in the bathroom. She opened the door to see Regina dry heaving into the toilet. Once done, Regina sat back against the wall.

“That’s it, I am taking you to the hospital,” Emma said kneeling in front of her and feeling her face, making sure she didn’t have a fever or something.

“Perhaps you are right,” Regina said.

….

Henry had protested that he wanted to go with them, but in the end, Emma dropped him off with her mother. They had no idea how long they were going to be at the hospital and if it was anything serious they didn’t want Henry there to hear it first hand. Emma wasn’t sure when she had been this worried as she drove them to the hospital. She kept looking at Regina who gave her a reassuring smile that was not very reassuring and not that big of a smile.

They had to wait nearly an hour to get in to see Doctor Whale who did a series of tests and had blood drawn from Regina. He noted a slightly elevated heartbeat and temperature, but neither was anything dangerous. Everything else seemed normal.

In the end, he sent them home, telling Regina to rest if she felt tired and once the results of her blood test were done he would call her.

“See the tests were normal,” Regina said when they were in the car.

“The tests he could do now were normal,” Emma said. “Now we have to wait for the others.”

She began to drive, not saying anything else.

“I’m sorry,” Regina said after a while. “I should have said something sooner.”

“Yes you should have.”

When Whale had been questioning her about her symptoms she had admitted that she had gotten a dizzy a few times since they had returned from the honeymoon. None of the dizzy spells had lasted very long but the fact Regina had kept that from her had made Emma upset. Emma was the one who told Whale about Regina transporting them and how she hadn’t been the same since.

Whale had asked Regina point blank if her symptoms had anything to do with her expenditure of magic and Regina had told him that she didn’t believe so. But she also couldn’t discount the possibility which made Emma even more angry.

Emma drove Regina home first before going to pick up Henry. She told Regina to go lie down and she would be back with Henry in a little bit. Emma went to her parent’s house and came inside instead of having Henry come out to her. As much as she wanted to check on Regina was still upset enough to not want to rush back. Henry and Snow had asked her how it went as soon as she entered. She explained that Whale hadn’t found anything out of the ordinary but they would need to wait on the blood tests.

“Are you ok?” Snow asked her.

“She should have told me.”

“I agree, but that is not what I asked.”

Emma sighed. “What if something is wrong with her, like really wrong with her?”

“Then you will get through it as a couple.”

“I’m just … scared. She has to be ok.”

“Emma,” Snow said. “All you can do now is be supportive of her, no matter what. You’re going to have to wait until Dr. Whale gets back with you about whatever this is. You can’t jump ahead and assume it’s something bad. Take it one step at a time.”

“That’s easier said than done.”

“I know, but the first step is going home and making sure she is ok.”

Emma knew her mother was right and so she drove home after making one more quick stop. She and Henry entered the house and found Regina lying on the couch asleep. Henry went upstairs so as to not disturb her. Emma went into the kitchen and found a vase for the flowers she had bought Regina and arranged them so they would be the first thing Regina saw when she woke up.


	19. Chapter 19

 

**Marriage day 208**

Regina was at her office working when her cell phone rang. She looked down not recognizing the number. She answered it only to find it was the hospital. Her results were in and Doctor Whale had asked that she come in. Regina told them she would be there within the hour.

She hung up the phone feeling like this couldn’t be a good thing if she was being asked to come in. She had actually felt better these last couple of days. There had been no dizziness, no nausea and she felt less tired. Regina hesitated before calling Emma, knowing her wife would want to be there. The conversation was quick as Emma told her she would meet her there and was leaving her office that very moment.

Regina gathered her purse and let her secretary know she had to leave for the day. Emma was already in the parking lot at the hospital waiting for her when she arrived. Emma gave her a hug and a kiss.

“Whatever it is, we will get through it,” Emma said taking her hand. They walked in and had to wait 20 minutes before they were led back to Whale’s office.

“Emma, Regina, please sit,” he said and they took seats in front of this desk. “Sorry it’s taken so long but the lab was backed up.”

“That’s ok,” Regina said. “I take it the blood tests revealed something.”

“It did,” he said. “Um are you sure wouldn’t be more comfortable having Emma wait outside?”

Regina looked at him strangely, “No, whatever you have to tell me you can say in front of my wife.”

“Very well,” he breathed in. “Regina, you are pregnant.”

“What?” she said looking from him to Emma, who was sitting there with her mouth partly open in stunned silence. “There must be some sort of mistake.”

“I thought so too, which is why I had the lab run it twice,” he said. “You are most definitely pregnant.”

 ......

Emma was pretty sure she heard Dr. Whale correctly the first time, but when he said it again – that Regina was pregnant – she felt like part of her brain short-circuited. She had been mentally preparing herself for Whale to give them some bad news about Regina’s condition. She had prepared herself for that, not for this.

She stood up, feeling the need to move, and she began to pace, running her fingers through her hair. Regina was pregnant. Her wife was pregnant.

She didn’t even notice that Regina had gotten out of her chair and was still debating the results with Whale, demanding that new blood be drawn because there was no way this could be true.

“You’re pregnant,” Emma said finally. “You’re pregnant.”

Regina turned and looked at her, “I can’t be. I swear to you this is some sort of mistake. I would never cheat on you Emma. I wouldn’t, I couldn’t.”

Emma’s brain was still moving a little slow from shock so she didn’t say anything at first as her mind processed what Regina apparently thought Emma was thinking.

“No,” Emma blurted out. “I know you wouldn’t cheat on me.”

“See, that it why this is a mistake,” Regina said locking eyes with Whale. “This is why we will run the test again with new blood. There must have a mix up in the lab or something.”

“I don’t think there was a mix up,” Emma said, and Regina gave her a confused look.

“You just said you knew I didn’t cheat on you,”

Emma saw the hurt in Regina’s eyes and moved closer to her, needing to reassure her. “You didn’t cheat on me, but I think you are pregnant. It would explain your sudden aversion to some smells and being tired, even nausea.”

“It doesn’t explain how I could possibly be pregnant. I may not be a doctor, but I know how that all works and there is no way I could …”

“Magic,” Emma said. “It was magic. My magic to be specific I think.”

“What do you mean?”

“That night on our honeymoon. You know the one where I used the strap on,” Emma said trying to lower her voice, but she still saw Whale’s eyebrows go up. “You said you felt my magic. I sort of brushed it off at the time, but the next morning I thought maybe I had used my magic but since nothing was out of the ordinary I forgot about it.”

“That doesn’t really explain anything.”

Emma sighed and pulled Regina a little further away from Whale’s desk. There are some things doctors didn’t need to know.

“When I was … well fucking you I sort of thought about how much I loved you and how I wanted us to like grow old together and I thought it would be cool to raise another child with you and well I think maybe I did this,” Emma said sheepishly while glancing down at Regina’s stomach area.

“I need to sit down,” Regina said taking back her seat.

“Is it possible?” Whale asked. “Could she have impregnated you from magic?”

Regina was silent for a moment more. “She had to have. If the test is correct, then it’s the only explanation.” She looked over at her wife who was now grinning like an idiot. “We’re going to have to teach you to control that magic.”

“We’re going to have a baby!” Emma said.

…

They walked out to their cars after having a conversation with Dr. Whale that included Regina insisting on another blood test just to be sure. He agreed and they took another sample with Whale promising he would oversee it personally to make sure there were no mistakes. He told them that if the second test proved accurate they would need to start talking about vitamins and what Regina could and couldn’t do during pregnancy and most of all, if this was a magical baby what that could mean.

Regina admitted she didn’t know.

Whale said his concern was only that the birthing cycle remained normal even if the conception was not.

Emma was talking a mile a minute as they made their way through the parking lot to their respective vehicles until she noticed that Regina didn’t appear to be sharing her enthusiasm or even listening to her.

“Hey, are you ok?”

“Yes, it’s a lot to take in is all,” Regina said giving her a small smile that was anything but reassuring to Emma. She knew her wife too well by now, but she also knew Regina sometimes needed to take a step back from things and think it through before she could express her true feelings. Emma decided this was one of those times that she needed to let Regina take that step back.

Emma gave her a smile in return, “It is a lot to take in and we have a lot to talk about, but maybe you are right, maybe we should wait for this next test to be sure of it and then move from there.”

Regina gave her another smile, this one more grateful and sincere. “I think that would be for the best.”

“Then we agree,” Emma said giving her a kiss on the cheek and forcing herself not to touch Regina stomach – something she had wanted to do for like the last 20 minutes. “I need to head back to work. I will see you at home later.”

They shared another kiss and then went to their cars. Regina started her car, but continued to sit in it after Emma left. She knew what the second test would reveal – she knew she was pregnant. As soon as Emma had explained what she was thinking when her magic went off, Regina knew that it was the truth. She was carrying Emma’s baby.

She was glad Emma had let the conversation drop. She wasn’t ready to talk about this, to even examine what it meant.

She simply wasn’t ready.


	20. Chapter 20

 

**Marriage day 211**

Emma wasn’t sure what to do. They had gotten the test results back confirming that Regina was indeed pregnant, yet Regina’s reaction to it all remained the same. Emma had tried to broach the subject the day before when Regina told her the results, but Regina turned the conversation around on her – telling her they needed to set up a time each night for Emma to practice control over her magic.

The only thing Regina had to say about the pregnancy was that she didn’t think they should tell anyone yet.

She didn’t get the sense that Regina was angry with her over this, but at the same time Regina wasn’t giving her enough of anything for her to know how Regina was feeling about it. Last night when they went to bed Emma and had done her customary spoon position. She had placed her palm on Regina’s midsection and a moment later, Regina was readjusting her own position so she was lying on her left side facing Emma, which prevented Emma from touching her that way. It couldn’t be a coincidence Emma figured.

She pretended like she was asleep the rest of the evening while Regina tossed and turned, never seeming to get comfortable until she laid back down on her right side. Emma didn’t even bother trying to spoon with her at that point.

So here they were after dinner for Regina to teach her greater control over her magic.

“Your magic is tied to your emotions so you have to learn to control them better,” Regina was saying. “If you don’t it could result in unintentional bursts of magic.”

“You mean accidental magic.”

“That is one way to put it.”

“Is that how you would put it?” Emma asked. “Is that an accident you are carrying?”

“No,” Regina said. “It’s a baby.”

“Are you sure, because you don’t seem very pleased with the idea,”

They were in Regina’s study where Regina had been on her feet while talking to Emma about magic and controlling it. Emma was sitting on the settee. Regina sat down next to Emma but didn’t make eye contact with her at first.

“I’m going to ask you to listen and try to understand,” Regina said. “What I am talking about here with your magic is important.”

“I don’t want to talk about my magic,” Emma said getting to her feet. “I want to talk about the fact that you are pregnant with my child and acting like … I don’t even know what you are acting like just that you don’t seem happy about it at all.”

Regina got to her feet and approached Emma, taking her hand, “I am happy,” she said. “It’s still settling in, but don’t think that I am not happy about this. It’s just … your magic and my magic … no don’t interrupt, listen to me. This baby was unintentional yes, but neither you nor I are going to love him or her less because of it. But if we are going to get to meet our son or daughter, we are going to have to be careful, very careful.”

“What do you mean if?”

“You heard Whale, this is a magical baby and we have no idea what to expect, nor do we know if I will follow the normal structure of a pregnancy. There are too many unknowns. My body is going to go through changes due to this pregnancy and my hormones are going to be completely out of whack. That means at times my emotions are going to be out of control. Out of control emotions can lead to unintentional bursts of magic, which could be harmful even if that wasn’t the intention. It’s not that I am not happy; I am just struggling right now to keep my emotions in check. I don’t want anything to happen to the baby. If something happened because I couldn’t stay in control … I don’t know what I would do.”

“So all of this, the magic lessons, it’s not about you being upset with me? This is about protecting the baby.”

“Yes,” Regina said. “I am not upset with you. If anything I am grateful you weren’t thinking something like you wished I had bigger breasts.”

The thought of course popped into Emma’s mind at that moment and she wondered …

“Don’t even think about it,” Regina scolded.

“What? I wasn’t … ok, I was thinking it but you put the image in my head. Damn, this is going to be harder than I thought it would be isn’t it?”

“Hard yes but not impossible. Again, I am sorry for not seeming happy about the baby. I truly am,” she said.

“But last night you moved when I touched your stomach.”

Regina looked at her oddly like she wasn’t sure what she was referring to. “Oh, I was sort of doing some research and they say lying on your left side during a pregnancy is better for blood flow. It’s not the way I am used to sleeping so I thought I should start now.”

“You did research without me?” Emma pouted.

“You’ve been pregnant before, this is new to me.”

“So.”

“Ok, no more research without you. But you have to take this seriously too.”

“I will, I am,” Emma said wrapping her arms around her. “I don’t want anything to happen to our baby. But even with this whole controlling emotions thing, you have to tell me what is on our mind because I can’t always tell when you go into shut down mode.”

“I will try and be better about speaking up.”

“Speaking of speaking up, when are we allowed to tell people?”

“The first person we tell is upstairs. Henry deserves to know first and I was thinking after the first doctor’s appointment we could do that. Then of course your parents because Snow would never forgive me or you for that matter if someone like Ruby found out before she did. I wouldn’t want to be in your shoes if that happened.”

Regina noticed Emma look away, “You told Ruby, didn’t you?”

“Come on, I couldn’t keep quiet any longer.”

“Your mother is going to kill you and I am going to have to raise this child on my own. Thanks for that,”

“She won’t kill me. I already told Ruby to be quiet about it.”

Regina shook her head and sat back down. She was silent for a few breaths before looking up at Emma. “I don’t know even know where to begin with all of this. We didn’t plan for it, we never talked about it,” she said. “You add in the fact that we created this child with magic, I … I’m scared.”

Emma knelt in front of her, taking her hands. “Hey I know this is a lot of stuff at once, but we’re going to be fine. We’re a family, you, me, Henry and little dude inside there, and we will figure it all out. We’ve gotten this far together haven’t we? Like you said, I’ve been pregnant so I know what to expect and I will be here all the way. I love you.”

She moved and kissed Regina on the lips. “I love you,” she repeated.

“I love you too, but if you ever refer to this child as little dude again I will divorce you and sue you for child support.”

“What’s wrong with little dude?”

“Apparently my threat didn’t have an impression on you. Fine, call the child little dude again and I tell Snow you told Ruby first.”

“You wouldn’t.”

“I would, now let’s get back to our magic lesson.”

 


	21. Chapter 21

 

**Marriage day 218**

Regina got home from work and started to make dinner. She was fixing steak for Emma and Henry, while she was going to have salad with grilled chicken. She was actually quite hungry as she had skipped lunch. Well, that wasn’t entirely accurate. She had brought her lunch as usual – it was the other half of the salad she planned on having for dinner. But when it came time to eat it she felt nauseous and after a few bites she threw it away.

She knew Emma wouldn’t be happy with her not eating, but ever since she had become pregnant her appetite seemed to be off. She had spoken to Dr. Whale about it, and he told it was normal that pregnant women sometimes had aversion to tastes or smells or had cravings. Emma had told her that when she was pregnant with Henry she would sometimes get cravings for cookies and cream ice cream – a luxury item in prison, but one of the guards would occasionally bring her some.

They had told Henry the day after she and Emma had talked more about what it all meant. If he found it strange they were having a baby, he didn’t say. What he did say was that he wasn’t changing diapers and he reserved the right of vetoing bad name choices. Overall, he was grinning just as much as Emma did and that in turn made Regina smile.

If there was ever proof that Henry was Emma’s and her child, he proved it when he went from talking about introducing the child to his first book and video game to a discussion about child proofing the electrical outlets and lower kitchen/bathroom cabinets.

Telling Emma’s parents was quite another matter. They decided to invite them over one night to sit them down and tell them. Regina had discussed it with Emma and Henry – emphasizing the need to be straight-forward with them about the fact she was pregnant and Emma was the other genetic parent due to magic. Privately she told Emma she better not share – or ever share – what they were doing when it happened. When Emma averted her eyes, Regina shook her head, “You told Ruby, didn’t you?”

“Maybe.”

Regina forbade her to tell anymore intimate details to Ruby ever.

Overall, she thought telling the Charmings went well, if you discounted the ear-splitting scream of excitement that Snow made before practically tackling Emma to the ground in a hug.

Regina just looked at Charming in that moment, and he sort of shrugged, “she gets a little excited sometimes.”

“I can see that,” she said.

The rest of the evening was fairly sedate after that although Regina had to endure a 45 minute lecture from Snow about her health and not getting stressed and taking her vitamins.

Now that Emma’s parents knew, Regina knew it wouldn’t be long before more people in town knew she was pregnant. Regina just reminded herself to stay calm throughout. She had been teaching Emma techniques each night so she could control her magic. She found her wife to be a frustrating student as her attention span for learning magic wasn’t very long.

Tonight she planned on testing Emma’s recall of what she learned so far.

Regina timed dinner well, and it was ready within 30 minutes of Emma arriving home. They were sitting at the kitchen table and Regina had eaten a couple of bites when she felt like she was going to throw up. She ended up pushing the plate aside.

“Aren’t you hungry?” Henry asked.

“You need to eat,” Emma said.

“I know, but my stomach feels like it’s ready to reject anymore if I eat it.”

“Is the nausea still that bad?”

“Yes,” she said.

“You can’t not eat. Here try some of my steak,” Emma said pushing the plate toward her.

“You know I don’t care much for steak,” she said. In fact, Regina tended to avoid red meat – eating it only once in a great while. She usually stuck with chicken or pork if she did eat meat. Although she had to admit when she was cooking the steak it had smelt really good. She looked at the plate now and took the fork and knife from Emma and cut off a small bite placing it in her mouth. She chewed and swallowed, her hand immediately covering her mouth.

“Are you ok?” Emma asked worried.

Regina lowered her hand. “No I am not alright,” she said. “That tasted wonderful.”

Emma laughed despite the look of seriousness on Regina’s face. In fact Regina was now eyeing the plate of food as if she wanted to cast away from her at the same time she wanted to devour it. Emma slid the plate fully in front of Regina.

“Kid, pass me the salad,” Emma said and Henry picked up Regina’s discarded food and put it in front of Emma who didn’t really want salad but if her baby wanted steak she was willing to make the sacrifice.

**Marriage day 219**

Emma woke first, still not used to sleeping on a different side of the bed but Regina insisted she had to sleep on her left side now for the baby. The end result was them switching sides entirely since Regina also didn’t want to be facing in to the bed. Emma was happy to see Regina was still sleeping though and she smiled thinking of her wife eating the entire steak the night before. The fact she never got nauseous and wasn’t experiencing morning sickness yet that morning was enough proof for Emma to think her baby was merely a meat eater and for the time being that meant mommy needed to be as well.

Emma would pay good money to see Regina eating a big, messy cheeseburger.

The alarm went off and Emma turned and shut it off, rolling back over to put her arm around Regina, placing a kiss on her neck. It elicited an appreciative noise from Regina who turned to kiss Emma fully on the lips. They kept kissing, Emma slowly upping the temp.

“We need to get up,” Regina said between the kisses before she broke free and sat up.

“No, we don’t,” Emma said smiling at her. She pushed Regina back down, kissing her. Emma straddled her to prevent her from trying to get up again.

Emma kept kissing her, running her hand from Regina’s thigh up to her side, pulling the nighty up that Regina was wearing. She paused her kissing long enough to get Regina to sit up so she could pull it off completely, smiling again knowing Regina wasn’t going to be getting up anytime soon. Although she had a point about needing to get up, but it didn’t bother Emma – she could work fast when needed.

She removed her own tank top and brought her lips back to Regina’s. She kissed down her body, stopping only briefly at her breasts. She stayed there just long enough to tease her nipples before moving on. She moved down Regina’s body and pulled her panties off once she reached there.

Emma looked up at Regina and smiled before running her tongue between those folds – slowly. So they might be a little late this morning, she thought.

She dipped her tongue back in and she kept it at a slow pace knowing it would drive Regina crazy in a short amount of time. Sure enough after a few minutes Regina was writhing under her touch.

“Get on with it or I will get out of this bed,” Regina complained after Emma kept going slow. Emma knew it was an idle threat but she started to pick up the pace of her tongue while pushing two of her fingers into her wife.

She moved quickly now wanting to feast on everything Regina gave her.

When she came Regina did so rather quietly which was not common for her and immediately set Emma on edge. She looked up at Regina who had her eyes closed and had a weird expression on her face as she seemed to be clinching her teeth.

“Are you ok?”

Regina opened her eyes in confusion, “Yes, why wouldn’t I be after that?”

“Well it’s just that you didn’t really make any noises and you looked like you were biting your tongue.”

“I was. You didn’t give me a chance to erect a silencing spell. Our son is probably up.”

“I think it’s too late to scar him for life. I mean he does know I got you pregnant.”

“Yes, and he said he didn’t want details.”

Regina moved quickly off the bed. “Where are you going?” Emma asked.

“To take a shower, start my now late day.”

“Um, you’re just going to leave me here … you know without a little reciprocal action?”

“I will reciprocate all you want, but in the shower. We’re both late.”

Emma scrambled off the bed – shower sex was always good with her.

 


	22. Chapter 22

 

**Marriage day 241**

Regina picked Henry up from school that day wanting to talk to him. Things had been so busy for her that she felt like she hadn’t had any alone time with her son lately. He got into the car and she drove toward home.

School had started up just the week before and this was the first time she had gotten the chance to get him. They arrived home and Regina asked Henry to sit on the couch with her.

She studied him a moment, thinking suddenly of the day she brought him home. He was so small and now he was teenager and would be an adult before she knew it. She felt her emotions skyrocket and was unable to stop it.

“Mom, are you ok?” he asked.

“Yes,” she said. “I was thinking about how small you used to be. You were such a tiny baby and now you are … taller.”

“That tends to happen when you grow up,” he said, still unsure as to what was going on.

“A lot has happened in a short amount of time. It hasn’t even been a year yet and Emma and I are married and now this with the baby, I just wanted to make sure you are ok with everything.”

“Of course I am. Why wouldn’t I be? I love that you guys are married. The baby was kind of surprising but it’s cool. All I really ever wanted was for us all to have our happy ending. I think you and Emma found that in each other. Growing up, you often seemed sad. I don’t even know that sad is the right word. It was like you were carrying this burden around and you couldn’t shake it off. But it’s not like that anymore and that makes me happy to see.”

Regina thought about what he said and knew he was right. The things that once bothered her, once haunted her, were no longer there. She had what she wanted in life.

“Things are going to be different this time around,” she said. “Mostly because I have others in my life now, people who can help share the burdens if they ever appear. People like you.”

“I am still not changing any diapers,” he said.

**Marriage day 248**

Regina was more than a little nervous despite Emma being there beside her. This was their first ultrasound. Normally they wouldn’t do one until she was farther along but since the conception was anything but normal it was recommended that she had have one between six and 10 weeks along.

They wouldn’t know anything about when the baby was due, much to Emma’s disappointment. She was too early in the pregnancy for a normal ultrasound. She was going to have to have vaginal ultrasound which was the cause for the nervousness. When they had explained that they would have to send a probe up through her vaginal canal she had told them absolutely not. It had taken Emma two days to convince her that if the medical professionals felt it was important she needed to go through with it.

The only seemingly good news about it was Dr. Whale would not be performing the procedure. A Dr. Lisa Andrews, who came through with the second curse, would be her doctor throughout the pregnancy although Dr. Whale would consult given the circumstances of it all.

Having to explain how she had gotten pregnant was no less embarrassing when she had to tell Dr. Andrews. The doctor had seemed fascinated and had asked what Regina considered to be very personal questions about their sex lives. Unfortunately, Emma seemed to have no qualms about sharing such details. By the end of that session she half expected Emma and the doctor to high five or fist bump.

But here she was with her legs spread apart in a pair of stirrups. Dr. Andrews had explained once again what the procedure entailed – an explanation Regina could have done without.

“Are you ready?” the doctor asked.

Regina nodded yes, unsure she could say the actual word. She squeezed tighter on Emma’s hand as the probe was inserted. Closing her eyes she tried not to think of what it looked like. She kept her eyes closed tight for what felt like a long while until she heard Emma say, “Is that it? Is that the baby?”

Regina opened her eyes and looked at the monitor. The screen was clearer than she expected. Dr. Andrews was pointing with her finger at a darker shaded spot near the base of the screen. She must have adjusted the camera because it moved to a view where it was more centered. Regina sat there, forgetting that camera was inside her, forgetting even that she wasn’t alone in the room. Her eyes were stuck on that spot on the screen – her baby.

Here was a little life that was inside of her – living and growing inside of her. The magnitude of it hit her suddenly and she started to cry.

Emma had also been staring intently at the screen trying to figure out the gender of the baby even though she knew it was too soon to tell. That was her little dude there on the screen. If she could have seen a picture of herself in that instant she would have seen what could only be described as a dumb, happy look on her face.

“Emma?”

She realized Dr. Andrews said her name and that she moved her head to nod at Regina. Emma looked at her wife, seeing the tears coming down her cheeks.

“Regina,” she said. “What’s wrong?”

Regina didn’t answer, just continued to stare at the screen.

“Baby,” she finally said.

Emma smiled knowing Regina wasn’t upset, she was merely in shock.

“Yes,” Emma said squeezing her hand again. “That’s our baby. Our little dude.”

That last part knocked Regina out of her stupor and she gave a disapproving look and then wiped the tears away.

“Everything looks ok,” Dr. Andrews said. “Nothing here that I can see that is any way unusual.”

“That’s great,” Emma said, looking at Regina, whose eyes had again returned to the screen. “Can we get a print out?”

“Yes,” Dr. Andrews said.

**Later that night**

Regina placed the picture of from the ultrasound in the new baby book she had purchased. It was one of the several copies they had made. Emma had taken one to her parents, and she kept one for herself. Regina also had a copy that she was going to keep in her office along with baby pictures of Henry.

She was sitting on the couch at the edge of the cushion and Emma came in and maneuvered so she was sitting behind her, her legs on either side of Regina who smiled as Emma wrapped her arms around her and peaked over her shoulder.

Regina had kept a baby book on Henry as she grew up. She had shared with Emma early in their marriage. It was the first time she had ever seen Emma truly cry.

This time would be different though – this time Emma would be there for the whole thing.

“You got a little emotional there in the doctor’s office. It everything ok?”

“Yes. It was … seeing our baby there on the screen; it sort of hit me all at once that there is a living being inside of me. It’s a major responsibility.”

“I know. I felt the same way when I was pregnant with Henry.”

“What’s it like – to feel a human being grow inside of you?

Emma paused before speaking, considering the question. “I don’t think I can answer that. I think it is something you have to experience for yourself.”

“I never thought I would.”

“You never once thought you would find someone to be with and have a child?”

“Not really. I used to think about what it would be like if Daniel had lived and we got married and had children. I used to wonder what they would be like – you know if they would like more like him than me. In this world though, no I never thought it would happen for me. If anything I thought if I had another child it would be through adoption.”

“You wanted to adopt another child?”

“Yes, a girl.”

“Why didn’t you?”

“It never felt like the right time. What about you, did you ever think about having another child?”

“I did. I acted like I didn’t but somehow I knew one day it would happen. Although I have to say I am perfectly ok with you being the one to carry the load. I am not sure how being a pregnant sheriff would work,”

“You should be lucky it wasn’t you that just had a camera pushed up their vagina.”

“It wasn’t that bad.”

“Speak for yourself. You weren’t the one who had it inside of you.”

“You don’t complain when I am the one inside you,” Emma said kissing her neck.

“Completely different,” Regina said leaning back against her. “I am just thankful everything appeared normal.”

“Me too. Now we can concentrate on the next phases like the ultrasound that will tell us when the baby is due.”

“And the baby’s gender.”

“Actually I was thinking about that and I think we should be surprised.”

Regina adjusted to look at her. “How can we properly plan if we don’t know if we are having a boy or a girl?”

“That’s part of the fun – not knowing. Plus there are all kinds of gender neutral colors we can choose from when we work on the nursery. Don’t you think it being a mystery would be cool?”

“No,” Regina said.

“Why not?’

“Because you can’t plan for a mystery.”

“Why do we have to plan?”

“Why wouldn’t we?”


	23. Chapter 23

 

**Marriage day 258**

Emma finished getting dressed and went down to the kitchen where she had to fix herself some cereal. Regina had left and taken Henry to school already, not that Emma would have gotten served breakfast if she had been down sooner. She knew that wasn’t fair to think. Regina would have made her breakfast, she just would have made Emma get up and get it herself.

It had been like this for more than a week now. It had started with their conversation about finding out the baby’s gender. Disagreement would probably be a better word for it. Emma just didn’t see why they needed to know and when Regina wouldn’t budge from her position it had made Emma angry. That had sparked an argument – one which Emma was pretty sure was ongoing although the subject matter of their arguments continued to change. After the baby’s gender argument, which included an argument about how to pick baby names, there was an argument about Regina’s work. Emma wanted her to start decreasing the hours she worked, delegate more responsibility to others to keep herself from getting stressed. Regina took this as Emma not believing she could be mayor and be pregnant.

That argument had ended with Regina telling Emma that if she didn’t think that Regina couldn’t handle it, “perhaps you should have thought about that before you so carelessly impregnated me.”

Emma had slept in the guest room that night and to show her displeasure of it, she gave Regina the cold shoulder the whole day. Now it seemed like whatever either of them did, it set the other one off. Last night Regina was being stubborn and trying to eat some healthy, veggie meal even though she knew it would make her sick. When she did get sick, she refused to eat something else – something with meat in it despite Emma trying to reason with her. Emma had gotten so angry she had stormed out after yelling at Regina while pointing out what stupid, stubborn idiot she was being. She hadn’t returned to the house until way after 3 a.m. and when she did return she slept in the guest room again.

She knew she should just apologize to Regina, but in reviewing the arguments in her head, she didn’t feel like she was the one who should be apologizing.

…

Regina held her phone in her hands thinking about whether to call or text Emma, if nothing else to make sure she was ok. She was awake when Emma had returned home early that morning. Even as she heard the door to the guest room close she knew she should probably go apologize to her, but she didn’t. Instead she barely got any rest that night and then got up early to hopefully avoid seeing Emma at all.

She kept hoping Emma would call or text her, but her phone remained silent. Finally, Regina put it in her top drawer of her desk and concentrated on the work before her.

……

Emma went out on patrol when it became clear that her wife was not going to call her or stop by to apologize. Watching her phone not ring made her angry so she got up and left, telling the dispatcher she was going on patrol and to call her if she was needed.

She was out for an hour – the whole time thinking about Regina and how it was clear that Regina was not going to apologize like she should. It was frustrating the hell out of Emma and she secretly hoped some crime would happen so she could burn off that frustration while doing work.

…

Regina got home after work and began to cook dinner. Henry came in shortly afterward.

“Did you and Emma make up yet?” he asked taking a seat.

“No.”

“But you said this morning that you would work things out with her.”

“I know what I said,” Regina responded. “And I am still willing to work things out with her, but she needs to make the first move.”

“Why?”

“Because … because she is the one who yelled at me last night and left.”

“But you yelled at her before that – like two nights ago.”

Regina sighed. “Relationships are complicated. You will understand how complicated when you are older and actually in one.”

“I don’t see why you can’t say you are sorry to her and move on. This morning you said you were sorry about it.”

“And I am sorry about it. It is just … I don’t like admitting when I am wrong.”

Henry laughed, “I don’t think anyone likes to do that.”

“No I suppose they don’t.”

“Just say you are sorry to her,” Henry said. “Maybe that will be enough and you won’t have to actually admit you were wrong.”

“Ok I will say I am sorry to her when she gets here.”

“Good. I am tired of you two giving each other the silent treatment or else arguing.”

“I’m sorry,” Regina said. “You shouldn’t have to experience that, nor be the one to tell me to apologize. I am the adult here after all.”

“See you said you were sorry and that wasn’t hard, was it?”

“No,” she smiled at him.

….

Regina got a text just before dinner from Emma saying she was working late. Again Regina knew she should just call her and apologize but she didn’t.

…..

Emma pulled into the driveway, seeing all the lights out in the house. She knew it was past the time that both Henry and Regina would have gone to bed. She came in and locked the door behind her, heading up the stairs. She paused in the hallway looking at the door to the room she shared with Regina. She wasn’t sure how long she stood there before deciding to enter it. Once inside she immediately knew something was wrong and she turned on the lights.

The bed was empty and it certainly hadn’t been slept in. It was still made up.

Her heart began to pound inside of her chest. Where was Regina?

She turned quickly and rushed to Henry’s door opening it and flicking on the lights. A very sleepy Henry woke and looked at her. “Mom?”

“Where’s Regina?”

“What?”

“Regina, she isn’t in bed, where is she?”

“Emma?”

She turned and saw Regina, also looking tired, standing in the doorway of the guest room. She rushed over and hugged her tight before kissing her on the lips.

“What are you doing in the guest room?”

“I was waiting for you to get home. I figured you would come in here, but I fell asleep.”

Emma kissed her again just happy none of the horrible things that had flashed into her mind while standing their empty bedroom were true.

“I’m sorry,” Regina said. “I was waiting in here to tell you I was sorry.”

“No, I am sorry; I should have been home sooner. I shouldn’t have yelled at you last night.”

“No, you were right I was being stupid and stubborn,” Regina said. “This has all been my fault.”

They kissed again.

“Can I go back to sleep now?” Henry said from his doorway.

“Yeah kid.”

“Good,” he said turning and shutting the door.

“Come on,” Emma said taking Regina’s hand and leading her to their bedroom. “I want to hold on to you all night long.

**Marriage day 274**

Once again Emma held on to Regina’s hand as she had the ultrasound. This was a normal one, much to Regina’s delight.

The baby’s tiny image appeared on the screen.

“I am going to enlarge the image in order to determine the baby’s sex. You are about to find out if you are going to have a son or a daughter,” Dr. Andrews said.

“Actually, we don’t want to know. We want to be surprised,” Regina said.

Emma looked down at her and smiled. They hadn’t really talked about it, but the fact that Regina was willing to allow the chaos of not knowing into their lives meant a lot to Emma. She bent down and kissed Regina on the top of the head.

“I love you.”

“I love you too.”


	24. Chapter 24

 

**Marriage day 280**

Emma and Regina laid in bed with Regina on her back and Emma on her side with her hand on Regina’s stomach. For the past five or so minutes she had been running her hand around it.

“I don’t really understand why you are upset,” Emma said. “I mean you knew this would happen.”

“Knowing it would happen and experiencing it is not the same thing. I guess I just wasn’t ready for it to happen this soon.”

“But it’s not soon. This is exactly around the time the books all say it happens for a first time mother. It’s between 12 and 16 weeks into the pregnancy, right on time for my little dude.”

Regina groaned. “We have talked about that moniker.”

“What would you like me to call him or her then? I can’t imagine you would like it if I referred to the baby as an it.”

“What’s wrong with just referring to him or her as the baby?”

“Little dude has more character.”

“See, if we had just decided to learn the baby’s gender we could start finalizing a list of possible names and we could just call the baby by the name we agree upon.”

“We’ve had this conversation already, let’s get back to the topic we were on, which is this glorious baby bump,” Emma said again running her hand on what was the beginning of Regina actually showing.

It had been the day after their ultrasound when Regina had begun to complain about her clothes not quite fitting as well. And while it was only a small baby bump, Emma had been more than a little obsessed with it. In fact she could barely keep her hands off Regina’s stomach.

“Well I am clearly not going to be able to get any stylish clothes in this town to wear for the duration of this pregnancy,” Regina said. “We will just have to go outside of it – to Portland perhaps or maybe even Boston.”

This time it was Emma who groaned. “A shopping trip, really?”

“Don’t you want the mother of your child to look good during her pregnancy?”

“I think you look good regardless of what you wear, or when you are wearing nothing.”

Regina shook her head. “Maybe you aren’t the best choice of some one to go shopping with.”

 

**Marriage day 286**

Regina looked at her phone after it vibrated while she was in a changing room. She had to smile at the text message from Emma – “Please tell me my mother is still alive.”

She texted back – “For now.”

Regina had made up her mind that she wanted to go shopping for more clothes, not just for now but for later in the pregnancy. She didn’t feel like putting up with her wife who she was sure would be bored out of her mind in the first 30 minutes. Since she didn’t have a lot of friends, she ended up taking the most unlikely person – Snow.

When Emma had mentioned to her mother that Regina wanted to shopping, Snow had jumped at the chance. Regina, against her better judgment, ended up agreeing to it. She had to consult with Gold to make sure she had way to keep Snow as Snow once they crossed the border. Having worked out the magic end, Emma put a stop to the idea of Regina using her magic to transport them out of Storybrooke.

Regina had again agreed but not just because of a concern over her or the baby’s health; she also needed her car in order to transport what she imagined would be many purchases.

They had crossed the border of Storybrooke when Snow had expressed her excitement for this “Mother-daughter bonding time.” As soon as the words were out of her mouth both women looked at each other – suddenly feeling the awkwardness of their familial connections through marriage.

They had agreed that if anyone would ask they would say they were merely friends.

Her phone vibrated again. “Just bring you and her back safely, ok?”

As their trip had grown closer to reality Regina had sensed an increasing nervousness in Emma, a nervousness that had her saying the night before that perhaps she should go with Regina and Snow. Regina had assured her that everything would be fine and perhaps it was a good thing that she and Snow spend some time together. Although she doubted that Snow and her together was really Emma’s concern. Emma was concerned for her and the baby.

Regina texted back, “no promises but I will do my best,” before putting the phone aside and finishing trying on an outfit. Snow had insisted she get to see everything Regina was trying on despite Regina trying to get Snow to shop for herself while there. After she was fully dressed, she stepped out of the fitting room.

“You wear a lot of button ups,” Snow commented after seeing Regina try on several already.

“Is there something wrong with that?”

“No, but don’t you think you should get some clothes that are more every day, more relaxing to just sit around the house in?”

“I don’t often just sit around the house.”

“Not now, but Regina there are parts about being pregnant that are anything but comfortable.”

Regina knew Snow was wanting to be helpful so she bit her tongue as Snow continued.

“Your body is literally going to change in order to support this life, and with that comes more than a few aches. There are going to be times that your back hurts and all you want to do it lie down until it goes away. There is swelling, leg cramps. I understand from Emma that the morning sickness has passed,” Snow said. “Oh, and there are times you are just going to want to sleep and sleep. Trust me, you are going to want to buy at least some clothes that are comfortable to lay around the house in, not just formal maternity wear for being mayor.”

Regina had read several books by now so she knew what Snow was saying was true. Still, she could hardly believe her own ears when she asked Snow, “What would you suggest?”

The smile on Snow’s face suddenly got bigger and Regina immediately regretted asking.

……

Emma didn’t want to admit how worried she was about Regina being out of town. She and Snow had left very early that morning and weren’t expected back until late. There were just so many things that could happen to her and if something did and Emma wasn’t there to prevent it, well that thought alone had her on edge all day.

She tried not to text Regina too much because she didn’t want Regina to think that she didn’t trust her to be gone like that or that she couldn’t handle having her wife gone that long. She knew her mother would watch out for Regina, but not being there in person still made her nervous.

Throughout the day she became increasingly uneasy about Regina being out there in the real world. While they had crime in Storybrooke, and more than a few magical issues that arose from time to time, Emma had more to fear out in the world beyond the town’s borders. Traffic alone could be deadly. And stores were robbed all the time, so what if something went wrong while Regina was in one? Or if some crazed gunman would just start shooting random people?

Whenever these thoughts started circulating in her brain she would end up texting Regina. She tried to play it off like she was worried about her mom, but she was sure that Regina saw through that after the first couple of texts.

It only got worse for Emma as it got later in the day and she knew Regina and Snow were on their way back. She was pacing throughout the house waiting.

Finally she heard the car pull in and she was out the door before it was parked.

“Hey,” she said with a smile as her mom got of the car. “How did it go?”

“It went good,” Snow beamed. “A little exhausting for one day but it was successful.”

Emma moved around the car as her mother spoke so she could make sure Regina got out ok. Regina was actually out of the car as Emma got around there. She smiled at her wife before giving her a hug.

“Never again,” Regina whispered in her ear. Emma just smiled at her and then saw the back seat was covered with bags.

“Why didn’t you put the stuff in the trunk?” she asked.

“The trunk is full with the rest of it,” she said moving away from the car. “I am tired and need a shower, do be a sweetheart and collect the bags.”

Emma looked at her mother as Regina walked away. “How much stuff did you let her buy?”

“What, she needed new clothes. They were all sensible purchases I assure you. Now I must be getting home to your father. We will talk later.”

Emma could only shake her head at the dozens of bags.


	25. Chapter 25

 

**Marriage day 304**

Regina watched as Emma yawned over her coffee. She knew her wife had not been sleeping well, but she was at a loss as to why. She had asked Emma about it the week before but she had shrugged it off saying it was nothing and she was sure that it would pass.

But it didn’t seem to be passing and Regina was starting to get concerned.

Everything else was going smoothly as far as she could tell except for this one thing. She knew Emma was trying to keep anything from stressing her out during the pregnancy so she couldn’t help but wonder if Emma was hiding something from her because she didn’t want her to worry.

If it continued, Regina was going to press the matter. She didn’t like the idea of Emma hiding things from her even if it was for her own protection.

 

**Marriage day 305**

Emma watched Regina sleep as the morning light crept into their bedroom. It was another hour before the alarm would go off, but Emma didn’t want to get up and risk waking Regina. She was tired, but knew there was no way she was getting back to sleep. She would just have to try and snag a nap later in the day.

She had been doing that off and on for the past week just to catch up on the sleep she was missing. Sleeping all through the night had become a luxury for her it seemed. Regina had suggested the week before that she try sleeping pills but Emma never liked how sleeping pills made her feel in the mornings – all groggy. Plus being sheriff she would occasionally get called out in the middle of the night.

No, she would just get a nap later and all would be fine.

**Marriage day 311**

Emma slid the key across the counter to Ruby.

“Thank you,” she said.

“Coffee?”

“Please.”

Ruby turned and filled up a cup with coffee and gave it to Emma who took an immediate drink.

“Do you mind a piece of advice?” Ruby asked as she leaned against the counter.

Emma looked at her but didn’t answer.

“Look, I am fine with giving you a key to one of the rooms so you can take an afternoon siesta, but don’t you think you should maybe look into why you can’t sleep in your own bed.”

“It’s not that I can’t sleep, I just can’t stay asleep,” she said.

“Yeah, yeah, and you don’t want to worry Regina, I get that. But come on Emma this isn’t normal.”

Emma exhaled deeply. “I know.”

“If you don’t want to talk to me about it, why don’t you talk to Snow about it?”

“Please, I might as well tell Regina then. Ever since their shopping trip, it’s like those two have become each other’s confidants. Regina has actually been asking Snow pregnancy questions like I haven’t actually been pregnant before.”

“Then maybe you should go see Archie.”

“It’s fine. It will pass.”

 

**Marriage day 312**

Regina watched as Emma got up after they agreed to call it a night. She watched as Emma got up and checked to make sure the front door was locked. She waited at the bottom of the stairs for Emma to join her, but Emma moved past her and Regina followed her, only to see Emma check the back door as well.

“Don’t you trust me to lock a door?” Regina asked.

“What? No. It never hurts to double check however.”

She followed her up the stairs still wondering about Emma’s actions.

**Marriage day 315**

When she went a few more days of little sleep, Emma finally gave in and knocked on Archie’s door.

“Emma, what brings you by?” he said, the perpetual smile on his face.

“Do you have a moment to talk about something?”

“Sure, come in.”

She entered and they took seats where he usually counseled his patients. She was sitting on the couch looking down at the floor boards.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

“I don’t know,” she shrugged. “I don’t know what is wrong, but all of a sudden I can’t seem to get to any sleep at night in my bed.”

“How bad is it?”

“I can get to sleep. That is not the issue. I just can’t stay asleep.”

“How much sleep are you getting?”

“A couple of hours,” she shrugged.

“Then you wake up and can’t get back to sleep?”

“Yeah.”

“Are you having any nightmares?

“No, not really.”

“What do you mean not really?”

“I … I wake up with this feeling of dread. It’s hard to explain. But I can’t get back to sleep after I wake up.”

“This feeling of dread is it specific to something or just a general feeling?”

Emma hesitated before speaking. “I just … it’s Regina and the baby.”

“What about them?”

Emma got to her feet and began to pace. “What if I lose them?”

“Why would you lose them?” Archie asked. He could tell Emma was distressed, but was unsure what would be bringing this on. By all accounts Emma and Regina were happily married and he had heard nothing to indicate that there may be trouble between them.

“I don’t know,” she said still pacing. “Ever since Regina went on that damn shopping trip it’s been like this. I should never have let her go without me.”

“Did something happen on the trip?”

“No, but that isn’t the point. Something could have happened to her and the baby. They were hours away and if something had happened I wouldn’t have been there to help.”

“But Regina is home now.”

“Like this place is so safe. A magical portal could pop up any time or an ogre, what if an ogre was here and decided to start tearing up the place. Then there are just the normal criminals.”

“Emma.” Archie said calmly, hoping that Emma would indeed calm down as she worked herself up into a near panic. “Please take a seat.”

Emma looked at the couch as if sitting down was the last thing she wanted to do, but she did so anyway.

“Fear is a tricky thing,” he said. “There is no rhyme or reason some times as to why we might fear something. To overcome a fear you must first understand why you fear it and confront it. From what you said, you feel like something could happen to Regina or the baby and you won’t be there to stop it. Firstly, let’s examine why you feel something would happen to either of them.”

Emma didn’t speak immediately although she kept her eyes on Archie, who couldn’t tell if Emma didn’t know what to say or simply didn’t want to say it. When the silence stretched on, Archie decided to take a different tact.

“Have you told Regina about this feeling of dread?”

“No, but she knows something is wrong.”

“Why haven’t you told her?”

Another pause.

“You know our baby wasn’t exactly conceived … normally.”

“Yes?”

“When we first found out Regina was pregnant she got all worried that if she or I lost control of our emotions that we might accidentally use our magic and it might harm the baby. Every night for weeks she was teaching me how to keep better control over my magic because while she said it applied to both of us, I got the feeling it was more intended for me. I mean it was my magic that created our baby in the first place. We don’t really talk about it but I know Regina is worried that this pregnancy – that something might go wrong. She’s really careful about everything. I mean she’s read all the books, researched, asked other women who have had children questions about what’s ‘normal.’ I don’t want to stress her out with my stuff.”

“That is understandable, but Emma you are married now and marriage is built on mutual trust and honesty. This is clearly bothering you, causing you to miss out on sleep and as you pointed out Regina already suspects that something is wrong, so my recommendation to you is that you talk to your wife about this.”

Emma got to her feet again. “Why so she can worry with me?”

“Maybe she can help you.”

Emma shook her head. “This is my responsibility.”

“If you aren’t going to talk to Regina about it then you need to determine why you are feeling this way.”

“That is why I am here.”

“Alright, let’s go back. You say this started with Regina’s trip, yet you say nothing happened on the trip. When did you start feeling like something might be endangering her?”

“As soon as she left. It was the worst day. I kept thinking about all these things that could happen to her while she was out there alone.”

“But she wasn’t alone. Snow was with her. Didn’t you trust your mother to take care of anything if something should have happened?”

“It’s not my mom’s job to protect Regina, it’s mine. She’s my wife, which means it’s my job to be there for her and keep her safe.”

“Safe from what Emma?”

“Everything.”

“Everything?”

“Not everything,” Emma said suddenly feeling self-conscious. “I know this is irrational. I know I shouldn’t be jumping at every shadow thinking there is something or someone there who is going to take it all away, but I can’t help these feelings. I can’t help that I worry all the time that … that this isn’t going to work out, that there is always going to be something trying to keep me from my family.”

“Emma if you give into these thoughts and feelings, the only thing that is going to be keeping you from your family is yourself. You need to speak to Regina about this. You need to sit down with her and talk about the things you have told me. This isn’t a situation where you need a therapist Emma, you need your family.”

**Marriage day 319**

Emma went through her now nightly routine of checking the doors and windows before joining Regina in the bedroom. Regina already had the lights off having gone to bed earlier. Emma slipped into bed with her, but she lay staring out the ceiling for a long time.

She was so lost in her own thoughts she hadn’t noticed that Regina wasn’t actually asleep. She had been lying on her side and Emma was startled when Regina got up out of bed.

“What’s wrong?” Emma said sitting up quickly.

Regina looked back at her in the dark.

“I need to use the restroom,”

She didn’t say anything else, going to the bathroom and shutting the door behind her. Emma waited impatiently for Regina to return. She thought it was taking too long so she got out of bed and approached the door. She knocked on it. “Are you ok in there?”

Regina opened the door. “I’m fine. I just had to pee.”

“Oh,” Emma said. “Well we should get back to bed then. You need to get your rest.”

“I would say the same to you but what would be the point?”

Regina moved around and her and got back into the bed. Emma didn’t say anything, merely got back into bed. Things had been like that since she walked out of Archie’s office a few days ago – walking out only to run into her wife as she was coming out.

It turned out that Regina was going to see Archie to ask about Emma’s behavior lately, but when Emma wasn’t forthcoming about what she was doing there, things just went downhill.

It wasn’t that she didn’t realize she needed to tell Regina, but she didn’t want Regina to worry and she also didn’t want Regina telling her how foolish this was in the first place. Sometimes her wife could be a little blunt and this was one instance where Emma didn’t want to hear it.

But she also knew she was the reason why her and Regina had this current tension between them.

She debated in her mind for many more minutes before rolling over and turning on her bedside lamp. Regina turned toward her immediately.

“The reason I went to see Archie is because I can’t shake this feeling that something bad is going to happen to you and baby and that I am going to lose you both.”

“What?” Regina asked as she sat up.

“Don’t make me repeat it please.”

“Is this why you have been checking the locks every night and send me like 100 text messages?”

Emma nodded.

Regina took her hand in hers. “Why are you so worried something is going to happen to me and the baby? Is there something you aren’t telling me, some threat to us?”

“No!” she said quickly. “That isn’t it at all.”

“Then what is it?”

“You’re going to think I am idiot.”

“I already think that.”

“Jeez thanks.”

“I am joking. Now please what it is, tell me. You’ve been acting like this for weeks.”

Emma paused at first. “There is no reason for why I feel this way. Believe me I have thought about this over and over again. I can’t shake it. I want to. But I’m afraid. I am afraid you and the baby – that you are going to stop being in my life.”

Regina’s facial features tightened in confusion. “Emma, I am not going anywhere if that is what you think. Why would I? I’ve never been more happy. We’re having a baby.”

“It’s not a fear that you will leave me, it’s a fear of something taking you away from me.”

Regina gripped her hand harder. “That’s not going to happen. I wouldn’t let it happen, you wouldn’t let it happen.”

“You say that but you know there are things we can’t control.”

“I know we can’t,” Regina said. “But Emma, you can’t let that stop you from living life and being who you are.”

“And how I am supposed to do that?” Emma asked getting out of bed. “How am I supposed to relax or let my guard down when doing so could put you in danger?”

Regina got out of bed as well. “I am not in any danger.”

“Really? How many times has someone tried to kill you?”

“Thankfully, no one in a long time. And if I were in any danger, I trust you to be there for me.”

“But I can’t be there all the time. It’s like that trip you took with my mother; do you have any idea how worried I was that you weren’t going to come back? If something had happened to you …”

“Nothing happened though,” Regina said stepping closer to her. “I am right here. The baby is right here.”

She got close enough to put Emma’s hand on her stomach. “See, there is your little dude right there.”

Regina watched her wife’s features carefully, hoping to get some clue as to what was going on in her head. All she saw was Emma on the verge of tears. She pulled Emma in closer and hugged her. “It’s going to be ok,” she whispered.

“I just… I want to be able to raise this child.”

Regina took a step back as soon as the words were out of mouth.

“This is because you didn’t get to raise Henry?”

Emma moved away from her and sat back down on the bed. “You have to admit the women in my family don’t have a good streak of raising their children to adulthood. My grandmother died when Snow was a child, then you …”

She stopped herself from saying it, but Regina knew what it was that about to come out. “Then I cast a curse that sent you away from your parents,” Regina said. “And perhaps if I hadn’t have done that you would never have given up Henry. We could take it back farther than that. If my mom hadn’t been warring with Snow’s mom then maybe she wouldn’t have died.”

“Regina,” Emma said standing again and feeling like shit even more so now. “I didn’t mean …”

“Maybe you did mean it. Not in a malicious way, but I can see the pattern just as well as you can. When you asked earlier about how many times someone has tried to kill me – I have an answer now. None. No one has ever tried to kill me Regina. The Evil Queen, however, lots of people have tried to kill her. Maybe that’s what you are afraid of – the Evil Queen causing you to lose yet another thing in your life.”

Emma stared at her. She knew she should say something; say anything to wipe away the hurt look that was now on Regina’s face. But she couldn’t find the words. And she wondered if that was because there was a kernel of truth in what Regina had said.

“No,” Emma said finally. “I don’t know what this fear is that suddenly has me on edge, but it’s not you. Regina, I love you. You know that. And you love me. Whatever this is, it’s not stronger than our love.”

This time she came forward and embraced Regina. “This isn’t about me wanting to raise this child because I didn’t get to with Henry and my parents didn’t get to raise me. If anything, it’s me being afraid I won’t get to raise this child with you. That is what I want. I want my family. That is all I have ever wanted.”

She kissed Regina softly on the lips a couple of times. “I’m sorry, I’ve been like this. I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I have all this energy built up inside of me and it seems like all I can direct it at is these thoughts that I am going to lose you and the baby.”

“Energy?” Regina asked.

“Yeah. It’s hard to explain. It’s like a car being in neutral but you rev the gas anyway.”

Regina sighed, sounding almost relieved. “When is the last time you used your magic?”

“I haven’t. I don’t want to risk you or the baby. We talked about this.”

“Yes, we did,” Regina said stepping away from her. “I never said you couldn’t use your magic, just that you had to be more conscious and in control of it”

“I am which is why I haven’t used it.”

“I think that’s the problem. You haven’t used your magic out of fear that you will do me or the baby harm. You are controlling your magic to the point that it’s built up inside of you. Your fear isn’t of someone or something. You fear yourself and your magic. I am the one who should be apologizing here. I should have handled the whole being careful with your magic better.”

“You really think this is because of my magic?”

Regina nodded. “Which means we need to find a safe way for you to use it – to siphon the gas tank to use your metaphor.”

“How do we do that?”

“I am not sure yet, but we will figure something out.”

 


	26. Chapter 26

 

**Marriage day 323**

Emma got off work and headed over to the house. She entered to the smell of some of Regina’s cooking. She inhaled deeply before going toward the kitchen.

“Hey,” she said leaning on the doorframe as she watched her wife move about the room.

Regina stopped and looked at her, “Have you come to your senses yet?”

Emma sighed. “Have you found a way for me to safely use my magic yet?”

Regina said nothing and turned from her.

“It’s not like I am enjoying this,” Emma said. “You think I don’t want to be here? This is the only place I want to be, but I am not going to risk you or the baby.”

Emma had spent the last three days staying at Ruby’s place. She had made the decision the night after Regina had suggested that her problem was related to her magic or rather her lack of using it. Regina had strongly disagreed with her leaving, but Emma put her foot down about it, saying she wouldn’t spend the night in the home until she could get this taken care of.

Emma’s fear was that she would accidentally do something – release the excess magic around Regina and … well she didn’t want to think of what could happen.

“Will you at least stay for dinner?” Regina asked, not looking at her.

“Yeah, it smells great.”

Dinner was over quicker than Emma would have hoped. Very little was said between Regina and Emma during the meal, but Emma spoke more with Henry. She had explained the situation to him and he seemed to understand her reasoning, but at the same time agreed with Regina that she might be taking her fear too far.

She went upstairs to gather up some more clothes – her original purpose in coming to the house. She picked up clothes for a couple of days and stuffed them into her gym bag.

“You don’t have to go.”

Emma looked up to see Regina entering the room.

“I don’t want you to go.”

“I don’t want to go, you know this, but I have to,” Emma said. “I don’t like leaving you, Henry and the baby.”

“Then don’t. You haven’t used magic; you haven’t done anything to put any of us in any danger.”

“So far I haven’t, but ever since you even mentioned the possibility that my anxiousness is related to my magic I haven’t been able to think of anything else. I don’t trust myself right now and as long as I feel like this I need to stay away.”

“Why don’t I get a say in this? I know more about magic than you do and if I thought you were a risk to the baby, I would say something, but I don’t believe you are.”

“I didn’t make this decision lightly.”

“Really? Because as far as I can tell you went to sleep and then woke up with this decision in mind.”

“You know that’s not true.”

Regina walked past her to close the drawer that Emma had left open. “You should probably get going then.”

“Don’t. Please don’t be angry at me. I am doing this for you and the baby, to ensure our future together.”

“There is no such thing as a sure future,” Regina responded. There was a flash of anger in her eyes as she said it but then it quickly disappeared and her features softened. She moved closer to Emma and brought her hand up to her face.

“I miss having my wife lying beside there in our bed,” she said giving her a soft kiss. “You know I don’t sleep well when you aren’t there.”

She kissed her again and Emma felt her resolve slipping. She kissed Regina back before pulling away.

“One week,” she said. “If we can’t figure this out in a week, I will come back no matter what. I miss being in that bed just as much you do. And it kills me that I haven’t been able to wake up beside you. I need to do this though.”

“One week,” Regina nodded. “It won’t be easy but I will give you that week. And I will work even harder to come up with some idea of how you can safely use your magic.”

“Thank you,” Emma said kissing her once more quickly. She wasn’t sure she would be able to leave if she kissed her even one more time.

 

**Marriage day 326**

Emma walked to the edge of the creek that ran near the woods in Storybrooke. She was a bundle of nerves and Tink’s incessant talking wasn’t helping matters.

“Ok, we’re here,” Emma said.

Regina had finally broken down and consulted Mr. Gold with their little magical problem. The result was a plan to have Emma use her magic in what they hoped would be a constructive way.

As Regina had explained to her from the beginning, that at this point it wasn’t enough for Emma to just do something magical. With the amount of energy she had built up there was a danger of her losing control of it. That was what Emma feared the most and why she had decided to stay with Ruby.

So after consulting with Gold, Regina decided that Emma needed specific tasks that she could focus on. And unfortunately since there were no ogres to defeat or dragons to take down, those tasks were going to have to be more mundane.

She was currently at her first task which was going to require her to use her magic to stop a blockage to the water caused by an earlier mudslide that brought trees and rocks into this part of the creek, blocking it to only a trickle.

Regina said they had been discussing in village council what to do about it, but had not wanted to devote manpower to it right now because it would mean pulling crews off of other needed work. The idea was for Emma to use her magic to move the debris out of creek and set it in a pile for it to be dealt with later when the village had the time.

She had dinner with Regina the night before at the diner where Regina went over the spell to use and how to go about it until it was drilled in Emma’s head. Regina had wanted to go with her in case something went wrong, but Emma refused to let her – saying that would defeat the purpose of what she was trying to do.

The compromise was that someone who had some knowledge of magic had to go with her and that ended up being Tink.

Emma wasn’t sure Tink had actually stopped talking the entire way here. She knew that Regina and Tink talked on occasion but Emma had rarely had one-on-one time with her and it seemed Tink was trying to make up for that. Or maybe she was trying to distract Emma, who knew, either way Emma was beginning to wish she had let Regina come.

“You should probably stand back farther,” Emma said to Tink. As much as she may be annoyed right now with the other woman, she wouldn’t feel any less guilty if anything happened to her.

Tink stepped back and was quiet for the first time.

Emma looked out at the blockage for the first time. It was larger than she thought it would be. There were at least three large trees and many rocks.

She took a couple of deep breaths and then said the spell that Regina had her memorize. She felt the magic but unlike the normal build up she usually felt, it felt like a speeding commuter train. The feeling was so unexpected she immediately lost control of it, and instead of the picking up the tree to move it out of the way, the magic hit the first tree and flung it into the woods where it hit two other trees. The original tree splintered like a firework had been placed inside of it and detonated and the two other trees cracked and fell – into the creek.

Emma looked back at Tink who was standing there with her mouth open.

“Please don’t tell Regina that I just did that.”

“Um, sure,” Tink said. “It was a good first try. I mean it could have gone better clearly, but you did get some of the magic out of you. I think you need to rein it in a little bit.”

“I would if I knew how, but that didn’t feel like anything I have ever done with magic.”

“Well Regina taught you some techniques to control your magic; maybe you should try one of those.”

Emma turned back to the debris feeling like this wasn’t going to get any better. She closed her eyes and breathed deeply, doing it more slowly than she had before. Regina had taught her about staying calm and focused – two things she wasn’t really feeling at this moment.

She forced herself as best as she could to not be nervous. She opened her eyes and tried the spell once more. Again she felt the magic shoot out of her, but she managed to direct it as it grabbed a hold of one of the newly fallen trees and lifted it up. Emma was so surprised she did it that she lost her grip on the magic and the log came crashing down.

“Damn it,” she cursed knowing that her fault for not keeping her concentration on what she was doing.

She failed on the next two tries as well as she couldn’t get her frustration under control. She wasn’t even paying attention to Tink until the other woman tapped her shoulder.

“What?” she said in anger and then shook her head. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have done that.”

“Here,” Tink said handing her the phone.

“Hello?” she said looking at Tink with confusion.

“Hi,” Regina said. “I told Tink to call me if things didn’t start out well. She didn’t tell me what is going on, but from the way you just snapped at her I am going to guess that you are experiencing some frustration.”

“That is one way to put it,” Emma sighed. “I’m trying; I just can’t seem to find the right balance of magic and concentration.”

“Ok, put the phone on speaker and give it back to Tink.”

Emma did as instructed. Tink took a step back from Emma but was not nearly as far back as she had been.

“Close your eyes,” Regina instructed Emma. “Keep them closed and just breathe deeply. Don’t rush it. Breathe in, breathe out. Listen to my voice and remain calm. We are not in any hurry here. You are not in any hurry; I am not in any hurry. The important thing here is that you don’t do anything until you are ready. Keep your eyes closed and tell me what you are thinking about right now.”

There was a slight pause. “I am thinking about how I need to get these logs out of the creek.”

“You don’t need to get those logs out. The world isn’t going to end if you don’t. You are putting too much pressure on yourself.”

“Then what should I think about?” Emma said not seeing where this was going to help.

“Think about something that makes you happy. For instance, as soon as you come back to your family, what’s the first thing you want to do.”

Regina couldn’t see it, but she could practically see the smile on Emma’s face. And Regina knew exactly what Emma was thinking because she too had been thinking about her wife returning to their bed.

“When I get home you are going to have to make sure you put that silence spell up,” Emma said.

Regina laughed, “I am sure that can be arranged.”

“I think I am ready now,” Emma said.

“Ok. Open your eyes.”

Emma opened them and stared at the debris and took one more deep breath before reaching out her hand and saying the spell. The magic again burst from her but she felt more in control of it this time. It grabbed one of the logs and she was able to move it out of the creek.

“Yes!” she said excitedly.

“Good job,” Regina said. “Now get the rest of it done.”

“Thank you,” Emma said. “I will see you at home later. And remember silencing spell.”

“I love you too,” Regina chuckled.

It took Emma nearly an hour to do the rest of it. She made sure she didn’t rush it and she only lost control of the magic one more time. She turned to Tink, “One task down, what’s next on the list?”

As much as she wished this would be enough, Regina had given a list to Tink with things on it that Emma didn’t know about. When Emma had asked why, Regina had told her that the first task wouldn’t be enough to drain her magic and she also didn’t want Emma thinking about all the tasks, instead wanting her to concentrate on each one individually. She left the instructions Emma would need to know as far as casting the magic for each task with Tink.

 

It was well past 2 a.m. when Emma showed up back at home. She walked to the door but ran into something. She almost fell down but got back up and reached out her hand only to find some sort of barrier.

“No,” she said, hitting it.

She saw the porch light come on and Regina came out wearing pajamas with a robe.

“What is this?” Emma asked.

“Your last task.”

“No. Come on Regina, just lower whatever this is and let me in. I am exhausted. You had me running around all over the place today. I skipped dinner in order to take a shower – I mean did you really need me to help some farmer clean up the shit on his farm.”

“In my defense, it’s the biggest farm here which means it produces a lot of food and two of the farm hands were injured last week in an accident.”

“Just lower the barrier, please.”

“You know I want to, but we have to be sure. Lower it yourself.”

“How?”

“Simple, all it will take a directed hit from your magic.”

“As tired as I am I think I can pull that off. Move back up on the porch.”

“No,” Regina said. “The only way for the barrier to come down is a direct hit from your magic aimed at me.”

“What? Are you crazy? I am not going to do that.”

“Then the barrier will remain up until you do. This whole thing started because of fear – fear that you would use magic around me and the baby and do us harm. The only way for you to overcome that fear is to use your magic around us.”

“No. No, I won’t do that. I am not going to put you at risk and you shouldn’t be asking me to do so.”

“I am not asking you to, I am telling you this needs to happen. It’s the only way Emma or you are just going to let the magic build up inside of you again and we will end up going through this again. You need to learn to trust yourself and your magic.”

Emma stepped away from Regina and the barrier. “I am going back to Ruby’s to sleep,” she said. “I will come back tomorrow when you come to your senses.”

“The barrier will still be here tomorrow, and the next day and the next day until you do this.”

“Damn it,” Emma yelled. “You can’t make me do this.”

“No I can’t. It needs to be your choice.”

“Please Regina just lower the barrier. You don’t have to do this. You shouldn’t want me to do this. Your priority needs to be that baby inside of you. You need to protect our child and this, having me do this isn’t protection.”

“My duty is to my family, Henry, you and the baby. What I am doing is ensuring that we can move forward from this. I trust you Emma, why can’t you trust yourself?”

Emma again stepped away. She felt tired and angry – angry that Regina would put her in his position. Even if she thought she could do this, she couldn’t do it with this anger flowing through her.

“You can do this,” Regina encouraged her. “You need to let go of this doubt and fear that has been controlling you. It doesn’t even take much magic – a small amount will be fine.”

“But what if I can’t do a small amount? Do you know what I did out there at the creek today – I knocked down two more trees because I couldn’t control the magic.”

“That was hours ago. The other tasks must not have been as bad or Tink would have called me to talk to you again. Emma you need to do this. It’s the only way.”

“But the baby ….”

“The baby will be fine, I will be fine. I know you would never hurt either of us. Please Emma, if you can’t trust yourself, at least trust me – that I would not put myself or the baby in a dangerous situation.”

The last thing Emma wanted to do was use her magic around Regina but she also knew Regina wasn’t about to change her mind about this. She closed her eyes and concentrated on her breathing and like she had done all day, she thought of something that would make her happy. This time she thought about being able to touch Regina, kiss her lips, touch her belly and speak to their child, playing a video game with Henry or sitting down as a family for dinner. She thought about all of these things before opening her eyes.

She saw Regina standing there in front of her and saw in her eyes that she had complete confidence in her to do this. Emma raised her hand in front of her, touched the barrier and let a small amount of her magic leak out. It touched the barrier and suddenly her hand was through it and Regina came forward and wrapped her arms around her.

“I’m sorry,” Regina said softly. “I am sorry I had to put you in this position.”

“It’s ok,” Emma said. “I understand. Now can we please go to our bed?”

“Yes,” Regina said kissing her deeply.

“Hold on woman,” Emma said pulling away, but taking Regina’s hand in hers. “I am too tired for that right now.”

“Really?”

“Yes, really. Maybe you should have thought of that before you assigned me the task of arranging shelves of books at the library using only magic. I feel like I could sleep for a week.”

“As long as you are sleeping in our bed I would be fine with that.”

They walked inside and up to the bedroom. Emma took off her jeans and socks and threw them on the floor, followed by her shirt and bra. She grabbed a tank top from the dresser, put it on and collapsed onto the bed. She had her eyes closed but heard Regina moving around the room – probably picking up her discarded clothing. The thought made her smile because it was such a Regina thing to do.

Then she felt the bed shift a little as Regina got on it. Regina kissed her on the lips.

“I love you,” Regina said.

“Uh-huh, love you too,” she managed to say back. She felt Regina lie beside her and grab her arm so she could wrap around her. Her hand came to rest on Regina’s belly and she allowed herself to smile once more before oblivion took her.


	27. Chapter 27

 

**Marriage day 327**

Emma rolled over onto her back, her eyes still closed, her mind contemplating continuing to sleep. She rolled over again onto her side and grabbed the nearest thing her arms could find – a pillow --- and hugged it to her body. She let sleep take her once more.

When she started to wake again she was still holding the pillow, but her mind started to question why she was holding a pillow – where was her wife? With her eyes still not wanting to open she reached her hand to try and touch Regina, but found only more of the bed.

“Regina,” she mumbled. “Come back to bed. I want to snuggle.”

She waited for a response, but when she didn’t get one she finally opened her eyes. It was light outside and she wondered what time it was. She rolled over so she could reach her bed stand and found her phone. Her eyes still blinking the sleep away, she wasn’t sure she saw the time display right – 1:17 p.m.

That wasn’t possible she thought. She placed the phone back down, and closed her eyes again. There was no way it was 1:17 she told herself; must be some trick of the light or her eyes not focusing. She found the pillow again and hugged it, breathing in the faint scent of her wife. Definitely Regina’s pillow.

“Regina,” she said louder this time. “Something’s wrong with my phone. What time is it?”

Again no answer from her wife. She groaned and forced herself to sit up and open her eyes – no Regina in the room.

She looked at her phone again still not quite ready to believe it was telling the truth. Emma left the room to go downstairs. She took it slow as she was still trying to fully wake up.

She heard Regina’s voice as she reached the bottom of the stairs. Her mind told her that her phone must have been wrong because Regina would be at work if it was really past 1 p.m. on a weekday. She entered the main room to see Regina walking and talking on her phone. She noticed Emma and smiled. Emma gestured that she was headed to the kitchen and Regina nodded to acknowledge her before resuming her conversation.

Emma went straight for the coffee maker and found a warm pot already on it. She pulled out a cup and poured herself some and taking an immediate drink. She leaned against the counter and thought about looking for something to eat, but she was in no hurry. When she finally did, she stood staring at the inside of the fridge thinking she was in no mood to make anything so she shut the door and took a seat at the table where she continued to drink her coffee.

“Do you want me to make something to eat?” Regina asked she entered.

“No.”

“You should eat something.”

“What are you doing here? I am waking up enough to realize that this is usually when you are at work.”

“I didn’t want to leave you here alone so I told my secretary that I would work from home today,” she said taking a seat beside her. “How are you feeling?”

“Still sleepy but I am slowly waking up.”

“You expended a lot of magic yesterday I am actually surprised you are awake right now. You aren’t used to working with magic like that,” Regina said brushing some of Emma’s hair back from her face.

Emma turned to face her, a smile on her face. She reached down and placed a hand on Regina’s belly. “I missed you these last few days,” Emma said giving her a kiss. Once she started though, she didn’t want to stop as she continued to assault her wife’s lips. She moved from the lips to her neck where she could hear Regina’s breaths increase.

“I missed you too,” Regina said softly. “Don’t ever leave me like that again.”

Emma moved back, “I didn’t leave you, not really, you know that right? I just had to make sure you were safe.”

“I know,” Regina said kissing her gently. “I just didn’t like the way I felt without you here. I guess I got used to being here and suddenly you weren’t and while you had your reasons, reasons I understand, it was still your choice to not be here and I … I didn’t know how to handle myself without you. I didn’t like feeling like this needy woman who can’t get along a few days without her spouse.”

“Awww that is so cute,” Emma said smiling. “You need me.”

“Don’t let it go to your head.”

“Too late, already there. Already thinking about how you need me.”

“You are very lucky I love you,” Regina said.

Emma kissed her again. “How about we go back upstairs to our bedroom and you let me love you for a bit?”

“Very tempting, but our son will be coming home from school in another hour and I am sure the first thing he is going to want to do is check to see how you are doing.”

Emma groaned, not because of Henry, but from a lost opportunity.

“Let me make you something to eat,” Regina said getting up.

“Fine,” Emma pouted.

Regina bent down and kissed her on the top of her head. “Tonight my dear, tonight I am at your disposal.”

Emma took it as little consolation, although she thought maybe a nap would be nice too. Regina cooked her something to eat and then Emma went and lay on the couch, barely watching the TV. Regina retired to her home office where she said she had some more work to attend to.

As predicted Henry came home and asked Emma about how she was feeling and then asked about the different tasks that she had to do with her magic. They sat there on the couch talking for more than an hour. While she had spoken to both Regina and Henry after she had left to stay with Ruby, it wasn’t the same as having this kind of interaction in the comfort of their home.

Regina came out after giving Emma and Henry time alone. She took a seat beside Emma, who put her arm around her.

“Mom and I were talking,” Henry said to Emma. “And it’s probably about time for us to prepare for the baby; you know a nursery.”

Regina looked at Emma knowing the other woman put Henry up to this. It’s not as if the subject hadn’t been broached before.

“We are converting the spare room next to ours into the nursery,” Regina stated. “The furniture can be moved out of it at any time.”

“And after that?” Emma prodded.

“After that,” Regina smiled. “After that we will make it into a nursery.”

“Aren’t we going to have to paint the room?” Henry asked.

“We are,” Regina affirmed.

Emma started laughing, she couldn’t help it and Henry also laughed.

“I am glad you two are having fun at my expense.”

“Sorry,” Henry said.

“I’m not,” Emma said. “This isn’t a difficult thing to do. We pick a color, we make a nursery.”

“First of all you pick a scheme, not a color,” Regina corrected her. “And since we don’t know what gender the baby is we need to find a gender neutral scheme. Your mother doesn’t seem to understand that these are important choices to make that require time and a lot of thought.”

“Hey I get it,” Emma said. “You are the one stalling.”

“Well I am sure if we knew the gender of the baby, it wouldn’t be an issue.”

“And I win,” Emma said, smiling and looking at Henry.

“Won what?”

“She bet me that you would mention wanting to know the baby’s gender in under five minutes,” Henry said. “Thanks mom, now I have to do the dishes for a week.”

Regina was sure she should be angry at both of them but it was Emma that she gave that look to.

“What?” Emma said defensively.

“Fine, you want to decide on a nursery scheme, let’s do it.”

“Like now?”

“Yes.”

“But I was going to take a nap.”

“Now you aren’t,” Regina said. “Henry go get my laptop from my office so we can start looking.”

Emma groaned the moment Henry got up.

“Don’t look at me like that my dear,” Regina said. “This was practically your idea.”

“But this will take forever, and I thought after dinner you and I might sneak off to bed early. You did promise you would be at my disposal tonight.”

“Actually I don’t recall using the word promise. I mean since the nursery is so important to you perhaps we should hold off on any extra curricular activities until we can come up with a scheme we can both agree on.”

“That could take days.”

“Or weeks,” Regina countered. 

Emma was about to reply but Henry returned and handed the laptop to Regina who promptly opened it and began to do searches on the web for gender neutral colors of babies.

They spent hours – Henry managing to last until Regina ordered pizza and had it delivered – looking over page after page of ideas. Emma tried to remain engaged in it as it was her child, but even she had her limits. She didn’t even remember falling asleep while sitting up on the couch until Regina shook her awake.

“Sorry,” she said. “What were you saying?”

“I haven’t said anything for the past 40 minutes that you have been asleep.”

Emma said the laptop was shut down and on the coffee table. “Sorry,” she repeated.

“It’s ok,” Regina said. “Let’s go to bed.”

Emma saw that it was only just after 10 p.m. “It’s still kind of early for bed.”

Regina who had already stood up raised her eyebrow. “I didn’t say we had to sleep.”

“Really?” Emma said, her grin as wide as it could go.

Regina shook her head dismissively, “did you really think I would make you wait until we decided on a scheme. That’ll take weeks. Now turn off the lights down here and meet me upstairs.”

Regina left the room and Emma was so fast that she caught up to her at the top of the stairs, grabbing Regina’s arm and pulling her into their bedroom. She shut the door behind them and immediately locked lips with her wife.

“You have no idea how hard it was to stay away from you,” Emma said between kissing.   
”I think I have a pretty good idea,” Regina said. “Let me get the silence spell in place.”

Even as she worked her magic, Emma didn’t take her hands or mouth off of various parts of her body – a body that Emma found extremely sexy with her belly protruding due to their unborn child. Emma took Regina’s shirt and bra off first – kissing her neck, her chest, and lavishing attention on her nipples.

Due to Regina’s pregnancy they had been forced to be a little more creative with positioning – not that creativity was ever an issue with them, but the baby did keep them from certain positions. Emma knew that once the baby was born and they could resume full activities that the first thing she was going to do was lay Regina flat on her stomach on their bed and run her tongue down the length of her back.

But that would have to wait as Regina could neither lie in that position, nor could Emma lie on top of her in anyway that would put her weight down fully on her belly.

With Regina still standing however, Emma bent and placed a kiss on her belly before stepping back and pulling off her own shirt and bra. “Clothes off,” she said to Regina and she was more than a little surprised when Regina used her magic to make it a lot easier on herself. Emma could feel her arousal rising at the scene of her suddenly naked wife standing there in all her glory.

Emma hurried to remove her own clothes and then dove back in for more kisses as she let her hands massage those breasts which much to her delight had gotten slightly bigger as the pregnancy progressed.

Regina had been a little touchy about the weight gain so Emma tried not to mention it, but to her Regina looked amazing. The idea she had a life—one made by the two of them – inside of her made Emma want her even more. And the bigger breasts didn’t hurt either.

She felt Regina’s hands on her hips and begin to moving back to her ass. Emma smiled into the kiss as she grabbed those hands and forced them back.

“Is something wrong?” Regina asked.

“No,” Emma said. “Just keep your hands to yourself for the moment.”

“Ok,” Regina said giving her a quizzical look.

“Don’t worry,” Emma said. “I promise you can touch me later.”

Emma reattached her lips to Regina’s, thinking how much she loved the mere act of kissing her. After many more kisses, she finally moved on – running her tongue down her neck.

“If you really expect me to not touch you, you are going to have to move a little quicker.”

“Impatient much?”

“I am almost six months pregnant and I’ve been on my feet a lot today.”

“It would have been sexier if you have said you were impatient.”

“I am always impatient for you, my dear,” Regina said.

“Good, because I am also impatient,” Emma said. She moved forward and forced Regina back toward the bed. The back of Regina’s knees hit the mattress. “If you weren’t pregnant I would have pushed you back onto that bed already.”

“Is that your way of saying that you want me on the bed?”

“I do, but in a seated position here at the edge of the mattress.”

Regina sat down and Emma kneeled between her legs.

“You know if I get much bigger I won’t be able to see you go down on me.”

Emma looked up at her. “Does it really matter if you can see me as long as you can feel me?”

Emma wasted no time pulling Regina’s pussy lips apart and dove in with her tongue. Regina leaned back, bracing herself with her arms – her hands flat against the mattress. She let her head lean back even farther as she felt Emma’s tongue flush against her clit.

Maybe Emma is right, she thought, maybe I don’t need to see it to enjoy it.

Emma relished the taste of Regina on her tongue and lips. It served to spur her on even more. She sucked on the clit, causing a delicious moan from Regina. She wanted to pleasure her wife, make her feel all that they had both been missing.

She made her tongue more pointed and pushed against her clit – moving it up and then swirling her tongue around it before again sucking on it. Regina bucked her hips as she did so and Emma knew she had Regina right where she wanted her to be.

Next she jammed her tongue inside Regina as far as she could make it go. She returned to her clit quick enough as she pushed two fingers into Regina.

“God,” Regina breathed out.

Emma wanted to smile at the exclamation but she kept her concentration on what she was doing. She sucked again on the clit while moving her fingers in and out. She kept her pace up, bringing Regina even higher and closer to her impending orgasm.

Finally she pushed her fingers in even deeper, curling her fingers upward. She continued this motion – speeding it up. She was feeling impatient herself – plus the sooner the first orgasm was done she could move on to the second.

She gave a few more hard sucks on the clit and thrust into her harder and faster. She stopped sucking and watched Regina as she moved her fingers in and out of her. Gazing upward, past Regina’s rounded belly, Emma saw her wife – her head thrown back, her mouth partly open, making small noises in between the hitching breaths that were coming out of her.

“Cum for me,” Emma said. “I want to see you cum.”

Her words – that and the additional thrusting – were enough to pull Regina over that edge.

Regina fell back on the bed, breathing hard as her body relaxed.

Then something happened that Emma wasn’t expecting – Regina started to laugh.

Emma stood up as Regina kept laughing.

“Um, do you mind telling me what’s so funny?”

Regina sat up and grabbed Emma’s hand pulling her onto the bed beside her so they were on their sides facing each other.

“I love you,” Regina said kissing her.

“I know that, but why are you laughing?”

“I am just happy,” Regina said. “I am just so unbelievably happy.”

This time Emma laughed. “In that case,” she said kissing her back. “Laugh all you want.”

Instead of laughing, Regina kissed her and reached down between her legs and began to rub Emma’s clit. Emma was already wet, having been turned on by what she did to her wife.

Regina worked Emma over, getting her wetter and wetter as she moved from her lips to suckle on her breasts. She nipped at one of the nipples causing Emma to groan as Regina kept her on the brink of any sort of release.

And then she stopped.

“Hey,” Emma said. “That is totally not fair.” She knew Regina was toying with her – one of her favorite things to do.

Regina bit a little harder on the nipple in response.

“Are we done with the foreplay?” Regina asked.

“What you were doing isn’t exactly foreplay,” Emma responded.

“It is if what comes next is better,” Regina said moving up the bed a little more and lying on her back. “Get on up here, I want to taste you.  
Emma scrambled up, placing a knee on either side of Regina’s head and lowering herself onto her wife’s waiting tongue. She exhaled fully as she felt that tongue begin lapping at her ever growing wetness.

“Ahhhh, Regina you make me feel so fucking good,” she said. She had her hands so firmly gripped to the headboard in front of her she almost felt like she could snap it in half.

Regina had her hands around Emma’s thighs using it as leverage to pull her head up more and apply more pressure with her tongue.

“Give it to me,” Emma breathed out.

She knew at this pace that she wasn’t going to last long and she didn’t want to. She was ready for the orgasm to take her on a euphoric high.

A few minutes later she screamed out Regina’s name, pulling the headboard toward her in the moment and causing a creaking noise. She let her head fall forward to lean against the board until she felt Regina tap her thigh.

“Sorry,” Emma said getting off of her and lying down so she could recover. 

Regina groaned and shifted her position.

“Are you ok?” Emma asked looking at her and seeing Regina’s discomfort.

“My back. Should have put a pillow down first.”

“Here, turn away from me,” Emma said and as soon as Regina did so, Emma massaged her lower back. She remembered when she was pregnant with Henry she used to have lower back pain after laying down for long periods of time. In prison there wasn’t much she could do about that so she sympathized with Regina.

She got the feeling that their sexy times were over for the night.

 


	28. Chapter 28

 

**Marriage day 337**

Emma excused herself from the kitchen at her parent’s home in order to leave Regina and Snow alone. The two were currently discussing the merits of “different” shades of the same colors for the nursery. To Emma most of them looked as good or the same as another and she had frankly exhausted her enthusiasm for the topic of the colors.

They had finally picked a theme for the nursery after much debate and Emma thought they could then start right away but no, Regina was insisting that colors too had to be just right. It’s not that Emma didn’t understand or didn’t care, but once Regina got started on such topics it was hard for Emma not to want to scream that sometimes a color was good enough and there didn’t need to be a debate over it.

Unfortunately the theme they had agreed on included quite a few colors. In the end it was a full family vote between Regina, Emma and Henry and the only one they could all agree on was a theme that used the colorful alphabet toy blocks. It was bright, somewhat educational and appropriate for a boy or a girl.

The problem was those blocks came in the colors of red, blue, yellow and green – and that was a lot of color to deal with. It was also the reason they were having this family dinner time so Regina could consult with Snow.

Emma left them in the midst of their color palettes and found her dad and Henry out in the backyard where Charming was going over some sword movements with Henry.Learning to use a sword (only a wooden practice one to start) had caused much debate in their household. And surprisingly it was Emma who had objected.

Regina hadn’t seen it as a big deal when Henry had first asked them. In fact Regina had told him it was fine before Emma had said a word. This was one thing that Emma wasn’t sure about – her son learning to use a weapon. Yes, she had used a sword because she was more or less forced to but for Henry to use one was quite another matter. Regina thought Charming would be the perfect person to teach him because he was an excellent swordmaster and she pointed out that if they were in the Enchanted Forest Henry would have started to learn to use one long before now.

Emma had been so stunned at Regina’s support of it that it took her entire day to bring the topic back up and object to it. The only reason she finally allowed it was because she knew it meant so much to her father to teach his grandson this skill.

Charming set Henry on practicing some movements and he retreated to stand next to Emma.

“How long do you think they will be in there discussing paint?” Charming asked.

“I don’t know. Do you have a spare bedroom for Regina to spend the night?”

Charming laughed. “It means the world to Snow that Regina would even seek out her opinion. After all they have been through it is sometimes easy to forget that when those two first met Snow was completely enamored by Regina.”

“I am all for their little pow wows because it typically means I don’t have to sit through them. I just wish Regina would be a little quicker about making decisions. She’s nearly six months pregnant and that has seemed to me to fly by so three months doesn’t really leave us a lot of time to get the nursery done and do what I am sure is gigantic to-do list to prepare. But at the same time I want her to relax a bit too.”

“Snow told me about the last ultrasound.”

They had gone to their doctor’s appointment two days ago and while everything with the baby was fine, the doctor had said that Regina’s blood pressure was a little higher than she liked. Regina had shrugged it off, but it worried Emma – mostly because she knew her wife didn’t like having days where she wasn’t being productive in some fashion. Emma had tried to broach the subject once again about when it was closer to the time for the baby to come that Regina should consider cutting back on her work hours. Being mayor was not a 40 hour job by any stretch of the imagination and Regina tended to act like it was a small miracle if the town ran smoothly without her.

Emma begrudgingly had to agree in part that the town did run well with her in charge. She just wished that there was a week that would go by that there wasn’t some minor disaster that Regina didn’t get a call about on the weekends or after she had already worked a long day. It wasn’t until after all of her own magical tasks were complete that Emma learned that Regina had chosen each one mostly because they were things that people had been bothering her about and wanting the town to take care of or at least help out with. That made Emma feel better about doing them, but at the same time she wondered how many times Regina had done things like that with her own magic. She had begun to ask a few more questions around town and had come to find out that Regina had used her magic in various ways to fix issues.

When she had asked Regina about it Regina acted like it wasn’t a big deal – in fact she said she hadn’t done such things since becoming pregnant just in case. Still Emma wanted to know why she did it. Some of the things could have been solved by simple manpower, not magical power. Regina admitted she did it because she wanted people in the town to see she really had changed and that they didn’t need to fear her or her magic.

Again Emma couldn’t fault her for that. But she made it clear to her wife that if such things arose again that she would let the manpower take care of it and if it was absolutely needed Emma would use her magic, at least until the baby was born.

“Regina doesn’t think the blood pressure thing is something to worry about,” Emma told her father.

“But you think otherwise?”

“I don’t know. The doctor said it wasn’t unusual, it was just a little higher than what she would like. It’s frustrating because I know how Regina is and I know that she isn’t going to want to slow down even as that baby starts weighing her down more. In some respects I am not sure she quite understands the whole pregnancy thing.”

“How so?”

“It is hard to explain. When we first found out she was pregnant she only had the one thing where eating salads made her nauseous but the smell and taste of meat was suddenly appealing to her. But that didn’t really last much past of the first trimester. Yes, she will still eat meat but she can eat her salads and what not fine now. Then there was the whole be careful with magic thing. Yeah, I hadn’t done a great job with that but it’s been like nothing to her despite her fears there at the very beginning. She complained about gaining weight at first but now doesn’t seem to be bothered by it. And that’s about it – anything that even slightly has fazed her seems to last for a week or a couple of weeks and then nothing. She hasn’t had any weird cravings. She isn’t bothered by the kid moving around in there. It’s like every thing that a pregnant woman legitimately can complain about, be bothered by or find inconvenient, she either hasn’t experienced it or it hasn’t been a big deal.”

“And this is a problem in your eyes because I got to tell you that getting up at 3 a.m. in the morning to go get some food your wife is craving; or being woken up by her having to pee like every 20 minutes isn’t exactly a joy.”

“I know I shouldn’t be complaining and I am grateful that this pregnancy has been going along according to any other normal pregnancy, but I am worried that all that kind of stuff could still happen and she is going to be ill-prepared for it.”

“If it happens, it happens. You’ve been pregnant yourself so I am sure you can help guide her through any rough patches. Hopefully there will be none and you two can have a stress-free third trimester and birth.”

“Let’s hope so.”

They were silent a moment just watching Henry.

“I have been meaning to ask you something,” Charming said. “Have you two talked about baby names yet?”

“I am 99 percent sure our child will be born without a name. Maybe by their first birthday we can agree on one.”

“That bad?”

“We simply have agreed not to talk about it at this point.”

“That’s pretty bad.”

“You have no idea.”

 

**Marriage day 343**

Emma took a sip of her coffee and read the morning paper while sitting at the counter at Granny’s. She was taking her time, waiting for Ruby to get a spare moment to come talk to her.

She had dropped Regina off at work because her car was getting a tune up at the shop. They had briefly talked about whether they should get a more family suitable mode of transportation. While Emma used her sheriff’s car, she still her Bug and she wasn’t really looking to part with it and Regina loved her car like it was a second child so they didn’t really talk much about it although they both agreed they probably should get another vehicle.

Emma supposed that the Bug would be an ideal car for Henry to learn to drive in and possibly use. After all it was part hers and part Neal’s in a way so if she was going to give it up it would probably only be to Henry. Regina on the other hand probably wouldn’t want Henry driving it as she barely tolerated the vehicle herself.

There was no way Henry was getting Regina’s car of that Emma was certain.

She had started to think about how having the baby was going to change things for them. While she hadn’t gotten to raise Henry she was familiar with how babies functioned which meant they didn’t function without a lot of hands on supervision. A child could severely mess up a person’s sleep cycle. Right now at least she didn’t mind the idea at all. They had already decided the nursery needed a rocking chair so they could sit and hold the baby during feedings or when they got fussy. Emma was looking forward to doing all those little things she missed out on the first time.

“Finally a moment to rest,” Ruby said as she sat down next to Emma. “Now what can I do for you?”

“My anniversary is coming up and I don’t have a single clue as to what to do for it. I was hoping you might have some ideas.”

“The first anniversary is a big deal.”

“I know, I know, but I don’t really know what to do. Like everything I thought of – for instance a romantic getaway to some beach – isn’t really possible when your wife is nearly six months pregnant. I mean it is possible, but you know what I mean. We can’t even just get piss ass drunk and fuck.”

“Do you talk like that to your wife?”

“Um … not usually.”

“Didn’t think so. Alright, we can do this. Your anniversary is still a couple of weeks away so we have time to come up with something and plan it out. What do you think Regina would like to do?”

Emma shrugged, “If I knew that I wouldn’t be asking you. She planned this amazing wedding on our six-month anniversary and I just feel like it’s my responsible to do something nice for our anniversary.”

“Let’s start with the basics – you want it to be romantic, right?”

“Of course.”

“And no kid besides the one in the Regina oven?”

“Correct.”

“In town or out of town?”

“I think we should stay in town you know just in case there are any emergencies.”

“Ok, now we are getting somewhere with the decisions. What about dinner, do you want to go eat out someplace or do something like an intimate dinner at home?”

Emma shrugged.

“Let’s skip that question for now. What are you getting her for your anniversary?”

“Oh, I got the baby’s crib,” Emma said excitedly. “I was going to put it together while she is at work that day and then when we got home I would surprise her with it.”

Ruby shook her head.

“What?” Emma asked.

“It’s sweet, don’t get me wrong, but this is your anniversary so you should be getting her something for her, not something for the baby. There is plenty of time for baby gifts, but you only get one shot at a first anniversary gift. Now there are certain traditional things they say you are supposed to get for anniversaries, but let’s face it, your marriage was anything but traditional. I think you have free rein in that case as far as a gift goes.”

Emma buried her head in her hands. “Why does this have to be so complicated?”

“The only one making it complicated is you,” Ruby said. “Let’s start with flowers. Your anniversary is on a weekday so have flowers delivered to Regina’s office while she is at work. It will be a good first step to letting her know you are thinking about her and anticipating spending the evening with her. Now are you also working that day?”

“I was planning on going in that morning and then taking a break to set up the crib, but since that is apparently out, I don’t know.”

“I think you should go into work in the morning if nothing else so Regina thinks you are at work,” Ruby said smiling. “And I think I have an idea of how you can make the day memorable for the both of you.”


	29. Chapter 29

 

**Marriage day 347**

The alarm went off and Regina reached over and shut if off, sitting up in bed. Beside her Emma groaned.

“Why do you insist on setting that alarm every day? It’s the weekend. We don’t have to be at work today.”

“That doesn’t mean there aren’t things to get done,” Regina said. “We have to get the furniture moved out of the guest bedroom so we can get started on the nursery. Once the furniture is out we need to lay the new carpet and put the drop cloths down so we can paint.”

“Yes, but all of that doesn’t need to be done in some set time. Lay back down.”

Regina glanced at the alarm clock and bit her lip.

“Stop thinking about it,” Emma said pulling her back down onto the bed. “Let’s get back into our comfy position.”

Regina allowed Emma to direct her back down onto her side and Emma wrapped an arm around her. She was fairly sure that she was not going to be able to get back to sleep but she closed her eyes anyway. A little cuddle time with her wife was ok, she thought, as long as it didn’t take up too much time.

**Later that day (later than Regina would have liked)**

Emma and Henry each grabbed ends of the mattress and began to carry it out of the room and down the stairs. Her father would be coming later in the day with the truck to take the mattress and other items from the room away to a storage unit they had rented until they decided what to do with what they were removing.

Nothing was staying in the room as they were purchasing all new items for the nursery.

Emma of course wasn’t going to let Regina actually help with this process of clearing out the room. She didn’t want Regina going up and down the stairs a lot. Regina argued that she could handle carrying the smaller items down, but ended up relenting to Emma’s wishes. The only reason she did was because Emma threatened that she would not only paint without drop cloths, but she would also change up which colors went where. Regina knew it was an empty threat, but she also knew that Emma had only made it because she didn’t want her over exerting herself.

The whole process seemed to go even slower for Regina because she couldn’t help. Still, she stayed there observing, trying to be a part of the process at least. As the room became emptier she began to think about what the room would like when it was done. She pictured it clearly in her mind, even so far as picturing herself sitting in the rocking chair feeding a bottle to their baby. It brought a smile to her face.

“What is that smile for?” Emma asked, having noticed Regina standing against the wall where she had fallen silent.

“Nothing,” Regina said keeping her thoughts to herself. Emma gave her a curious look but didn’t press for a better answer.

They managed to get the furniture out, the old carpet torn out and the new one down, but by the time that was finished; they decided to stop for the day. They still had plenty of time to get it done, so they there was no reason to rush through it.

Regina stood in the doorway looking at the room. Emma and Henry had gone with her father to take the furniture to the storage unit and she was all alone for a little while at least.

Like the room would soon be all put together, she thought about how her life has finally been put together. There were times that it all seemed surreal to her; that maybe this was some intense dream and she would wake up to an empty bed and the only place in her heart built for love was the love of her son.

She looked down now at her baby bump and rubbed her hand across it.

“I can’t wait until you get here little one,” she said.


	30. Chapter 30

 

**Marriage day 365**

Regina was signing a couple of purchase orders when her secretary knocked on the door and came in carrying a vase of flowers. They were lilies which were Regina’s favorites.

“They are beautiful,” her secretary said.

“They are,” Regina said admiring them. She plucked the card off of them even though she knew they were from Emma seeing as it was their anniversary. When she read it though, she was immediately confused. She flipped the card over and saw there was the letter F on the back of it.

The card itself was of good paper stock, very firm. The lettering was embossed. The letter F was a bright red.

“There is a car waiting for you outside.”

“What?” Regina asked, looking up.

“A car. It’s waiting for you outside. My understanding is that you will be taking the rest of the day off,” her secretary said.

Regina looked down at the card again. “I guess I do have some place to be.”

She grabbed her purse and coat and went outside to find Emma wearing a chauffeur outfit standing next to a black sedan, holding the back passenger side door open for her. Regina smiled at her as she approached.

“My adventure awaits,” Regina said holding up the card from the flowers. “What is that supposed to mean?”

“I am just the driver ma’am,” Emma responded all straight faced and serious.

“Ma’am? What’s going on Emma?”

“Maybe you would like to get in the car and then you can tell me where I am supposed to take you. I was hired out for the day to take around a Mrs. Swan-Mills, that is you right?”

“Yes, as you well know seeing as you are my wife,” Regina said.

“I am just the driver ma’am,” Emma repeated.

Regina considered a moment before deciding the only way to know what was going on was to play along. She stepped closer to the door. “I am getting in the car now,” she said. “But you call me ma’am again and you will be sleeping alone for a long time to come.”

Emma gave a small wink and a smile and Regina slid into the back seat where another card was sitting. She barely noticed Emma closing the door as she picked up the card and read it.

“Happy anniversary my love. Go to the place where my parents first learned of our nuptials.”

She studied the card a moment more before saying, “Take me to Granny’s.”

Like the other card there was a letter on the back of this one as well. It said R and it was green.

It didn’t take them long to get to Granny’s and Emma got out of the car and ran around it to open the door for her. Regina took her offered hand to exit the vehicle.

“Are you coming in with me?” she asked.

“I think I should stay with the car,” Emma responded.

She realized her wife was playing some sort of game with her, but she wasn’t sure what it was all about. Again she knew she had to play along to find out.

She walked into the Granny’s and looked around, not seeing anything unusual. Ruby came up to her, “do you need a seat?”

“I am not sure,” Regina responded.

“There is a free booth over there if you want it.” Ruby pointed to a booth that Regina recognized as the one that they had all sat at when they had returned from getting married. It was here that the Charmings learned she and Emma had gotten married.

“Thank you,” Regina said heading that way. So Ruby at least and probably Granny were in on this little game. Regina took a seat but again didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. Ruby came over and gave her a menu. Regina wasn’t hungry and told Ruby as much.

“Now Regina you have to eat for that little one in there,” Ruby said.

“Fine, but I don’t need a menu.”

“Trust me, you do,” Ruby said sliding in on the table in front of her.

Regina picked it up and another card fell out. It landed so its back side was facing up with the letter E stamped on it in blue. She wasted no time flipping it over.

“When we finally worked together I began to see you would be mine.”

Another clue.

So her wife had set up some sort of scavenger hunt for her.

She read the clue again and considered it. Getting up, she went to the bathroom as she needed to pee. Even as she went in she hoped that despite how many stops there might be on this scavenger hunt there better be some bathroom breaks. She was fairly sure that baby must have shifted inside of her sometime in the last week because she swore it was putting more pressure on her bladder.

Ruby was standing at the counter as Regina got up. Her phone buzzed and she saw a text from Emma. “What’s taking so long?”

“I am not sure she got your clue, but I am sure your lady needs to pee.”

Emma sent back a smilely face and “yeah, that’s been happening more lately.”

Regina exited the restroom and went straight for the door and the car where Emma was dutifully waiting. Once she was in and Emma was in, Emma asked, “Where to now?”

“We’re going to a mine,” Regina said, giving her directions of where to go exactly.

Regina sat back and thought about that day when the failsafe had been activated. She had used her magic to keep it at bay but she knew she wasn’t strong enough. Then there was Emma stepping forward to use her magic on it as well and together they prevented it from destroying everything. She wondered if it was true that Emma was thinking as far back as then that they could be together. She wanted to ask but she knew while she was in character, Emma wouldn’t be answering any questions.

That day with the failsafe, she had felt Emma’s magic merge with hers and it was like feeling a power surge go through her. She hadn’t had time to think about the encounter that day as they rushed to save Henry but as they were in Neverland she had more time alone with her thoughts. Emma had stayed with her in the mine, saved her in fact when she could have walked away. Regina didn’t have words to express what that meant to her so she remained quiet.

It still amazed her that she and Emma had managed to be civil to each other, much less get married. Yet here they were a year after taking those vows still married and expecting a child.

 

Emma kept glancing in the rear view mirror at her wife. Regina had gone silent and there was an introspective look on her face. There was also a faint smile on those lips and when she saw Regina’s hand land on her belly Emma wanted nothing more than to stop the car, slip into the back and kiss her.

 

They arrived at the mine and driver Emma insisted that the accompany Regina inside, telling her that she would feel better if the pregnant Mrs. Swan-Mills wasn’t walking alone inside. They got to the part where they had destroyed the fail safe and sitting on the ground was another card which Emma bent down and retrieved for her.

The clue read, “We didn’t cross paths here but when love pulls you together there is no rehearsal for it.”

On the back was another E, this one in yellow.

FREE, Regina thought, free what. And the clue itself was not anything immediately obvious to her.

They walked back to the car and Regina sat in the back considering the words on the card.

 

Emma watched as Regina was in deep concentration. This was one of the harder clues because the place didn’t hold any special meaning to them – not exactly at least. There were two words in it that pointed to the location.

Minutes wore on and Emma was beginning to think she made it a little too hard.

“Would you like me to drive around a bit?” Emma asked her.

“No,” Regina said her eyes never leaving the card.

 

She was stumped, but she didn’t want to admit that to Emma. The last two clues were places that were significant to them in some way, but this clue suggested a place that wasn’t significant. She was also distracted by the letters from the back of the cards. FREE. What was that supposed to mean? If this was some sort of elaborate plan to spell out a coupon for free sex with her wife she was going to be disappointed.

More minutes passed and Regina was considering asking for help not that she expected Emma to give it, but maybe that offer to drive around was a hint that she would drive near the location.

“We didn’t cross paths here,” Regina said out loud to herself. She looked at the second part of the sentence. Rehearsal –odd choice of wording she thought, which might be the reason it was significant. Cross paths, rehearsal, she kept repeating in her mind.

“Driver, I am ready to go now.”

“Where to?”

“We’re going to church.”

 

And she got it, Emma thought as she put the car in gear. The day they were getting married in front of friends and family Emma thought (rightfully so) that it was taking place in the church they had picked out. Even without the rehearsal dinner and the fact Regina had obviously been plotting some secret for their wedding; Emma never could have imagined that her wife would surprise her with a magical castle to get married in.

Everything about that day had been magical to her.

Those few seconds before she began to walk down the aisle she had taken in the whole view of the place, but it was the woman at the end of the aisle that captivated her vision. Standing there in front of friends and family, reciting their vows, Emma had felt for certain her heart wouldn’t be able to contain all the love she had in that moment.

 

Arriving at the church, Regina was allowed to go in on her own this time. She had to admit the clue was clever on Emma’s part and maybe a little bit of payback for Regina switching the location of their wedding.

She walked into the chapel, her eyes on the look out for another card. She ended up walking slowly down the aisle glancing from side to side, hoping she didn’t overlook it. As she neared the altar she caught site of it propped up on it.

She looked at the backside first where the letter O was. FREEO, or FREE O – she almost rolled her eyes as she was prepared to harm her wife if this ended up spelling out free orgasm.

It was their anniversary after all, the orgasm was expected and she certainly wasn’t going to turn in a coupon to get one.

Flipping it back over she read the clue. “We break curses together.”

Not much to work with there was Regina’s initial thought. Curses, a reference to more than one curse. There was the original curse she had cast, which Emma had broken. There was also the second curse where they had all lost their memories which Regina had broken. But they hadn’t broken those together.

“Henry,” she said out loud walking back toward the exit. Both of them had broken the curses because of their love of Henry.

 

They drove to Henry’s school and Regina had to wait outside of the room he was in for class to end. She took the time to visit the restroom so she could pee again.

The bell rang and Henry saw her immediately.

“Hey mom.”

“Hi Henry.”

“What are you doing here?”

“I was wondering if your mother left something with you that you are supposed to give me.”

“Nope.”

“Are you sure? It would be a card in the shape of a square.”

“I think I would remember if she asked me to give you something,” he said as they got to his locker.

“Oh. Maybe I read the clue wrong.”

“What clue?”

“Emma sat up this little scavenger hunt thing for our anniversary and so far I’ve figured out all the clues until now.”

“A scavenger hunt, that’s cool. Are you having fun?”

She thought a moment, “Yes. It’s actually very romantic because each of the clues has some sort of connection to her and I and our marriage. This last clue was ‘we break curses together,’ which I thought was a reference to you because you and her broke the first kiss and then you and I broke the second. I thought it was a reference to our family.”

“It was,” Henry said smiling and holding up a card he pulled from his book bag. “I was just messing with you.”

Regina snatched the card from his hand. “I swear there are days I don’t know which one of you is more juvenile, you or Emma.”

“I am a kid; I am supposed to be this way. She doesn’t have an excuse.”

“I suppose,” she said. “I will pick you up tomorrow at your grandparents.”

“Take your time,” he said. “There is a reason I made arrangements not to be at home tonight.”

“You are growing up too quick, you know that right.”

“Probably.”

“Well stop it,” she said giving him a kiss on the forehead.

“Mom,” he whined as there were other kids around.

She let him get to class and she started to examine the card as she walked out of the school. There was a letter R on the back. FREE OR, she thought shaking her head. If this was as she feared she had four more cards to find in order to spell orgasm.

She turned her attention to the clue. “Soon these four walls will be for the four of us.”

Home, she thought.

“We’re going home,” she said to Emma as she held the door open for her. Instead of getting in, Regina grabbed her and kissed her.

“Mrs., I don’t think your wife would appreciate you kissing random strangers,” Emma said once Regina was finished.

“I think she might forgive me this transgression,” Regina said. “Sometimes I just can’t contain my love for her.”

“I am sure she feels the same way,” Emma said. “So let’s get you home.”

They drove home and Emma parked the car and then opened the door for her. “You might want to take your cards with you,” Emma said. “My contract for the day was only until I got you home.”

“Is that so?”

“It is.”

“It’s been fun Mrs. Swan-Mills. Maybe we will run into each other again soon.”

“I hope so,” Regina said.

Despite what Emma said Regina was still surprised when Emma got in the car and pulled away. Regina walked to the door and unlocked it. The house was quiet and there was nothing to indicate what she should be doing. She looked around the bottom floor for another card but found none.

As she walked up the stairs she immediately saw a ribbon on the door to the nursery. Another card hung from it. She plucked it from where it hung. It said simply, “I love you, always.”

She smiled and ran her fingers along the writing. This must be the end of the hunt, she thought. Flipping the card over, it had the letter V on it. FREE ORV. She had no idea what that was supposed to mean so maybe the hunt was not over yet.

She opened the door to the nursery and stepped forward slowly. Against the side wall was a crib. She approached it cautiously as if she was afraid it would move if she got to it too quickly.

As she stood in front of it, she let her hand slide along the wood.

It was quite simply perfect.

Her hand went down to her stomach. “Do you see what your mommy got you?” she said to the child inside of her. “This is where you are going to sleep when you come out here to join our family.”

She wanted to share this moment with Emma and she turned to go get her phone to call her and tell her to get back there. She didn’t care about any other surprises or plans Emma may have; she just wanted her wife to be here with her. As she turned though she stopped, seeing on the wall next to the door a wooden frame of sorts. She got closer to it. There were what appeared to be square wooden frames of assorted bright colors attached together. In some of the frames there were pictures of Emma and Regina, or of Henry and even a picture from one of their ultrasounds. Those frames were all set around other frames that were also square in shape but side by side. In the top set of these frames there were white embossed cards spelling out the word FAMILY so that it gave the look of a child’s alphabet blocks to match the room’s theme.

There were seven frames set side by side under the word family.

She looked at the cards in her hand – studying the letters on the back of each one. Slowly she took each card and slid them into the frames and then took a step back to see the results.   
FAMILY FOREVER.

“This all started because we wanted Henry to see us as a family, to see we could get along and work out a custody agreement,” Emma said as she appeared in the doorway. She was no longer wearing the chauffeur outfit, just a pair of jeans and a T-shirt. “But I fell in love with you Regina and while it wasn’t my intention that we get married a year ago, it did happen. This past year … I don’t even know how to describe it except to say that you and Henry have taught me what being a part of a family really means and I don’t want our new kid to ever not know just how important we are all to each other. I know this day is supposed to be about you and me, but there is no you and me if we both hadn’t decided that we wanted to be a part of something more, part of a family. A year ago we stood in a family court and we pledged to love each other and be committed to each other. Six months later we stood in front of friends and family and we promised each other an eternity of this love. I just want you to know that is what I will always give you.”

She moved closer and pulled a small box out and handed it to Regina, who paused before opening it. Inside was a silver bracelet with the infinity symbol.

“It’s beautiful.” Regina said.

“Here let me help you.”

Emma took the bracelet and put it on her wrist. Regina admired it before launching herself into Emma’s arm, giving her a tight hug.   
It took Emma a second to realize Regina was also crying. She pulled back, seeing the tears come down her face. She cupped Regina’s face in her hands. “What’s wrong?”  
”Nothing,” Regina said. “I am so in love with you. Like crazy in love with you. I love you Emma Swan-Mills.”

“I love you too,” Emma said kissing her. “Are you sure you are ok?”

“Yes,” Regina said. “I am so happy. I am happy to be your wife, happy to be carrying your child and really happy that those cards didn’t end up spelling out free orgasm.”

“What? You thought they were going to spell out free orgasm?”

“I thought maybe it was some silly coupon kind of thing, you know redeem for one free orgasm. The order I picked them up did start off as FREE OR.”

Emma laughed. “I actually didn’t realize that. Besides it’s our anniversary, the free orgasm is kind of implied.”

“I knew I loved you,” Regina said pulling her in for another kiss.


	31. Chapter 31

 

**Marriage day 365 (continued)**

Emma pulled Regina out of their child’s room as they continued to kiss, but once out the door, Regina swung their positions around so she had Emma up against the wall. They crashed their lips into each other, neither woman being gentle about it as if some burning need has suddenly consumed them.

“I’ve wanted to kiss you all day,” Emma breathed.

“How do you think I felt?” Regina answered before their lips came together once more.

They hadn’t had sex in a couple of days – both being busy and even though it was their anniversary they had merely kissed and told each other I love you that morning.

Regina stepped back and grabbed the bottom of Emma’s shirt, pulling it up and Emma got the hint quickly helping her to remove it. As Regina began to kiss along Emma’s neck, Emma reached behind her back and unclasped her bra to let it join the shirt on the ground.

Regina, seeing access to two of her favorite parts of her wife, wasted no time licking a line down her neck to one of those breasts that was soon enveloped by her lips. She felt the nipple stiffen and she pushed her tongue against it. She was bending over to do this, but she knew she couldn’t keep that position up long – not if she wanted her back not to hurt with the extra weight she was carrying in front. She regretfully released the taut nubbin and returned her attentions to Emma’s neck and then her lips.

She could hear Emma’s breathing increase and it only spurred her on even more.

Finally she pulled back and with a smile on her face she grabbed Emma’s hand and pulled her into their bedroom. They didn’t bother closing the door knowing they had the house to themselves.

“Naked. Now,” Regina commanded.

Oh yeah Emma thought, she loved it when her wife wanted to take control. There was just something about Regina that made Emma feel like giving up control wasn’t a bad thing at all.

Emma kicked off her shoes and began to pull her jeans and panties down. As she shimmied out of them and pulled her socks off while ingloriously trying to balance on one foot each she looked at Regina ready for whatever was next. Except while she was taking off her clothes, her wife was still fully clothed, but she did have this appraising look on her face as she let her eyes wander down the length of Emma’s body.

Regina walked around her and Emma turned her head to look. “Eyes forward my dear.”

Emma obeyed but she had a smile on her face all the same. She felt Regina move closer to her and then an arm wrapped around her midsection while her other hand moved Emma’s hair out of the way. When she felt Regina’s tongue on that sensitive spot behind her ear she practically purred.

Even a year into the marriage, Regina felt like she was constantly discovering things about her wife. While she knew that spot behind Emma’s ear turned her on, the sound she just heard come from Emma when she did it was new. She moved the arm that was wrapped around Emma upwards so she could once again play with those breasts. As she continued her oral assault on Emma’s neck she began to tease each nipple, pulling on them occasionally and making her wife squirm in her arms.

She sucked hard the side of her neck wanting to leave a mark in case anyone would ever think they could take what was hers. And Emma was hers just as much as she was Emma’s. It had taken more than the vows spoken a year ago for her to truly realize that fact.

After more minutes of toying with her breasts and covering her neck and shoulder in kisses, Regina let her arm go lower – in a slow descent she came closer to her destination, but once there she let her hand slide past it and she rubbed the side of Emma’s leg instead.

“Regina,” Emma whined earning her a small laugh.

“Patience my love,” Regina whispered.

“It’s hard to be patient when I feel like I am about ready to drip down there.”

Again Regina laughed. “It can’t be all that bad. But maybe I should check to be sure.”

She brought her hand over and allowed one finger to dip in between those folds. She felt Emma’s arousal slicken her digit. She brought her finger out and moved to bring it into her mouth. She sucked it clean and caught Emma trying to peak back at her as she did.

“Eyes forward,” Regina said. “Or else I will draw this out for hours.”

Emma’s eyes snapped forward knowing it was not an idle threat. She thought back to a night not long after they learned Regina was pregnant when Regina had done just that. Emma thought she was going to die by the time Regina finally gave her the relief she had been looking for. She learned that night that if Regina wanted to torture her, she definitely knew how to.

Even as Regina made the threat of drawing this out she knew it was an empty threat. She wanted Emma so badly that she felt like her own core was already dripping and she hadn’t even allowed Emma to touch her beyond the kissing. Still, it didn’t hurt to keep her wife in line.

“Now where was I,” Regina smirked before reattaching her lips, this time to the other side of Emma’s neck. Ok, maybe she was going to draw it out a little more.

She again began to tweak Emma’s still hard nipples. She used her other hand to grip one of Emma’s ass cheeks, making the other woman rise up on her toes a moment. She could feel Emma’s muscles even there – her wife having amazing glutes.

She let more minutes pass before she let her hand dip down once more. This time she cupped Emma’s pussy before bringing one finger in to run along the length of it. She felt for her clit and made slow circles around it.

Emma moaned as she felt Regina’s finger rub her clit. Regina kept the pace steady however and Emma began to think that maybe she was in for a torturous couple of hours. All her senses felt heightened. She could hear her own breathing and Regina’s. She could hear the sound of her own wetness as Regina’s finger swirled it around. Even the sound of Regina’s now continuous kissing on the back of her neck and shoulder.

She could smell her own arousal and wished that Regina was naked so she could smell hers as well. For she was sure this was arousing the brunette. She could smell the perfume Regina had put on that morning – it was a scent she saved for special occasions and Emma couldn’t wait to breathe it in more deeply when she had her own lips sunk into Regina’s flesh.

She looked down her own body past her still peaked nipples to see Regina’s hand as it worked its magic on her pussy. She looked up again catching the barest of angles in the mirror on Regina’s vanity, but it was enough to see that her body was molded against Regina’s like they were made to be that way.

Her sense of touch was off the chart. Everything thing Regina was doing to her felt like she was experiencing it tenfold. God, she thought, this is what it’s like when you love someone as deeply as I love Regina.

“Had enough?” Regina whispered.

“Of your incessant teasing, yes.”

“Careful,” Regina warned.

“Please.”

“I love it when you beg,” Regina said giving her one more lick behind the ear that had Emma rising up on her toes again.

Regina came around to admire the front of Emma. Again she let her eyes travel from head to toe. “You’re beautiful.”

Emma smiled at her, and as much as she wanted to move forward and embrace Regina she kept still knowing that Regina wasn’t done being in control – yet. As it turned out she didn’t have to move as Regina did so, bringing their lips together once more.

“I wanted to take you in the back of that car,” Emma admitted.

“You should have.”

“Nope, would have ruined the plan.”

They were speaking in between kisses and has Regina had her hands on Emma’s tits again.

“It was a great plan. It made me think about you, about us throughout it.”

“That was the idea.”

“You deserve a reward for that idea.”

“Disclaimer, Ruby sort of had the idea of a scavenger hunt, but the rest was me.”

“Remind me to give her a really big tip,” Regina said.

A moment later Regina had dropped to her knees and with her hands on the back of Emma’s thighs she dove her tongue into Emma.

“Sweet Jesus,” Emma exclaimed at the sudden intrusion. This is what she needed. This is what she wanted.

As her head tilted up to the ceiling she closed her eyes seeing an explosion of color behind her lids. Her whole existence had been shrunk down to the feel of Regina’s mouth and tongue.

She felt the tongue circling her clit much like her finger had earlier. Her tongue was replaced by her mouth as she began to suck on the clit only to return to playing with it with her tongue.

Emma’s arousal level was so high that she was afraid she might collapse when she finally did cum. She put her hand on Regina’s head to steady her already unsteady balance. Regina seemed to take this as a sign that she should go faster. She plunged her tongue inside Emma and the sensations Emma was feeling wouldn’t be stopped now even if Regina stopped. Thankfully she didn’t and Emma felt her muscles begin to tighten as her orgasm hit her.

“Ahhhh,” she cried out as her head again lolled back and her eyes went to the ceiling. Regina continued to lick her throughout the orgasm and after causing Emma to twitch a couple of times from the sensitivity.

When Regina got to her feet she had another smirk on her face as if to challenge Emma to top that. Emma grabbed her and kissed her.

“You are wearing too many pieces of clothing,” Emma said and she waved her hand and Regina’s eyes got wide as her clothes disappeared.

“What?” Emma shrugged. “You did say I needed to use my magic from time to time.”

 

Several hours later …

 

Regina relished the feel of Emma’s arm around her as they lay naked in bed. She hadn’t actually left the room since they had come in there. Emma had left once, but only to run downstairs – somewhat appropriately dressed – to answer the door and get the food she had ordered them. Chinese takeout may not be the most romantic of anniversary meals, but as Emma pointed out, they didn’t have to dirty dishes or leave bed to eat it. It was the not leaving bed part that had Regina sold.

After she had finished eating she had laid down, not really intending to fall asleep, but she did want to get on her side before her back started to hurt. When Emma finished her own meal and pressed up against her Regina felt such comfort.

They had made love to each other multiple times including once in the shower where Emma had thrust her fingers into Regina from behind.

She turned over in Emma’s arms so she could look at her wife.

“I love you,” she said again like she hadn’t said it multiple times already.

“I love you too,” Emma grinned. “And I love this little one here too.” She ran her hand along Regina’s stomach. “I can’t believe it’s about six months now. Last trimester is on its way.”

“Thanks for getting the crib.”

“It was my pleasure. I can’t wait to our little dude is actually laying in it.”

Regina rolled her eyes at the moniker Emma had given their child. She swore Emma was using it more and more since they couldn’t seem to agree on a name.

“You were right you know, about how this all started because we decided to show Henry we could get along that we could be some sort of family although neither of us really expected to be getting married a year ago,” Regina said. “I was trying to come up with an appropriate anniversary gift for you and I kept thinking about how we ended up getting married in the first place, not the actual marriage, but the time leading up to it. We were spending all that time together and we really were getting along better. I know you were hesitant about the idea of going outside of Storybrooke to get Henry’s custody taken care of. It all ended up ok, but it got me thinking about something to get you.”

She used her magic to make a large envelope to appear. She handed it to Emma and sat up as Emma did.

“They say paper is an appropriate gift for your first anniversary,” Regina said as Emma gave her a curious look.

Emma carefully opened the envelope and pulled out a small stack of papers and began to look at them.

“I don’t understand,” Emma said flipping to the next page.

“This is the official notice that your record has been expunged. Judge Watson helped me out with it. Those papers certify that your record was sealed and while it can’t take away what happened to you, you no longer have to worry about it following you around.”

“You did this for me?”

“I would do anything for you.”

Emma put the papers aside and locked lips with her wife once more.

“I love you,” she said. “Mrs. Swan-Mills, I love you and I would marry you all over again in a heartbeat.”

“I feel the same way my dear.”

 

**Marriage day 366**

Regina entered Granny’s that morning and ordered a glass of orange juice. She had been nixing the coffee during her pregnancy which meant less morning trips here but today she knew she had to stop in. Ruby got her the glass and Regina handed her a $20. When Ruby returned with her change, Regina told her to keep it.

“Um that orange juice is like a $1.10.”

“I know,” Regina smiled. “Consider it my way of saying thanks.”

“Thanks for what?”

“Helping Emma come up with the idea for the scavenger hunt.”

“You don’t need to leave me a tip for that.”

“Oh believe me, I do.”

 


	32. Chapter 32

 

**Marriage day 389**

Each time she went to the doctor’s office, it got harder and harder for her to not have the doctor tell her the gender of the baby. She kept thinking the other woman would accidentally let a “she” or a “he” slip but she didn’t.

This was the first time Emma had missed an appointment, but she got caught up at work and had called Regina to let her know she wouldn’t be there. For a moment Regina considered asking the doctor the gender and just not telling Emma but she also knew that would never work mostly because she would feel guilty about it.

Dr. Andrews came back into the room after leaving Regina sitting there for what seemed like a long time, but Regina figured that was because she was by herself.

“Every thing is looking good,” Dr. Andrews said. “Blood pressure was better this time around too, which is good news for you and the little dude.”

“Not you too.”

“Sorry,” she laughed. “I’ve heard Emma call your child that enough times that it’s hard to think of what else to call the baby. How is the baby naming coming along?”

“Don’t ask.”

The doctor couldn’t help but laugh again. She had been witness to some of the back and forth that Regina and Emma had been having over what to name their child. Since she knew the gender of the child she especially found some of the conversations even funnier for her.

“Well, regardless of what you ended up calling your child, right now they are doing great in there and we are now heading into your final trimester. Our next step is to set up birthing classes for you. Since there aren’t currently any other pregnant females in town as far along as you, you and Emma can setup a one-on-one instruction. You can do it all in one day or stretch it out into smaller classes, whichever you feel more comfortable with. I know we have broached the subject before but have you and Emma made any decisions about things like if you will have an epidural?”

“We talked about it and I think we are going to go with a natural birth. Emma thinks I would be more comfortable with the drugs, but I tried to remind her that I am from a place where natural births were the norm. We didn’t have drugs beyond maybe some herbal remedies to give a pregnant woman. She is fairly certain I will regret the decision.”

“We can always be prepared to give you one if you change your mind, but like we discussed there is a certain timing to it where I will no longer be able to administer it.”

“I think I will be okay but to make my wife happy perhaps we should prepare for it in case I want to exercise that option.”

“Very good. Now is there anything else you want to discuss before I set you free?”

“Do you have any name suggestions?”

Dr. Andrews smiled. “I am fairly certain Emma would find a way to arrest me if I answered that question.”

“Probably.”

When Regina left the doctor’s office she called Emma first thing and let her know that everything went fine with her appointment. Emma apologized for not being there but Regina told her that was not necessary and she understood.

After their brief talk Regina went back to her office to get some work done. When she got out of her car she realized just how much weight she was carrying around with her – with three months left to go. Emma had told her not to worry about the weight and even Dr. Andrews said it was on the low end of the normal scale. But what bothered Regina was not the fact that she looked pregnant – it was the beginning of more and more lower back pain. It seemed like every time she lifted herself out of her car she felt a slight twinge.

Maybe she could talk her wife into a small lower back massage that evening. Something told her that it wouldn’t take much to get Emma to do it. Her wife seemed to be jumping at the chance to do something, anything the more the pregnancy progressed.

Emma often asked her if she could get her anything, or if she was having any cravings that Emma needed to get something to satisfy. She really hadn’t had any, which was fine with her. Just knowing her baby was healthy was all Regina needed.

She finished up her work that afternoon and went home where Henry was already at, finishing up his homework. He was at the kitchen table with a textbook open in front of him and a notepad where he was working on some math.

Regina started to get dinner ready.

“How was the doctor’s appointment?”

“Good,” she replied. “Everything was good and my blood pressure was better this time around. Emma got caught up with work so she couldn’t go with me.”

“You could have gotten me out of class to go with you.”

“I appreciate that, but you probably would have been more excited about getting out of class than actually going to my appointment.”

“I don’t know. I bet the doctor could have told me if I am having a brother or sister.”

“Which you know Emma wouldn’t appreciate,” Regina said.

“I know,” he said a little disheartened. “At first I thought it would be cool to be surprised, but I don’t know, I guess I changed my mind.”

“You really want to know?”

He shrugged. “It doesn’t really matter either way, but at least if we knew you guys might pick out a name.”

She sighed, “Yes, well your mother hasn’t made that easy.”

“From what I can tell you haven’t made it easy either. Sarafina? Really mom?”

“What? It was a fairly common girl’s name back home.”

“Your grandmother Snow thought it was pretty.”

“Yeah, I am ok with the veto on that one.”

“We’ve been over this; you don’t actually have vetoing power.”

“Fine, give the little dude a horrible name and deal with the consequences later in life when they realize it is a horrible name.”

“We do have three more months to get this figured out.”

“You’ve had six so far,” he said closing the book. “I am going to finish this upstairs. Call me when dinner is done unless that too is going to take three months.”

“I swear you get to be more like your mother everyday.”

“Hey you married her so she can’t be all that bad.”

She smiled as he exited. Henry was a lot like Emma, but also like Regina. She wondered if their new child would be similar. It amazed her sometimes how Henry had traits from both of them when Emma hadn’t gotten the chance to raise him for the first 10 years of his life. Yet there was no doubt he was her son.

After dinner was over and Emma and Henry spent time playing a video game that Regina had yet to figure out what the point of it was, Regina asked Emma about a back massage.

“Your back is hurting?”

“Just a little,” she said.

Since she couldn’t lie down she sat on the edge of the bed and Emma got behind her and began to rub her lower back.

“Do you want me to call and set up the birthing class?” Emma asked as she worked.

“Yes since your schedule varies more than mine does. That would be nice.”

“Will do.”

Several moments passed as Regina just enjoyed the feel of Emma’s hands on her.

“The issue of naming our child was brought up by the doctor today and again by Henry when I got home.”

Emma snickered, “I am not surprised, that betting pool is getting a little out of hand.”

As soon as the words left her mouth she knew she didn’t need to see the look on Regina’s face as she shifted positions to look at her.

“Betting pool? What betting pool?”

“It’s nothing.”

“Emma,” she said sternly.

“There may or may not be a betting pool going around town on what we will name the little dude.”

“What! Who would do that?”

“It’s not a big deal. People just thought it was funny that we hadn’t agreed on a name so someone started this little wager and it slowly got bigger and bigger.”

“You knew about this?”

“Regina …”

“People shouldn’t be placing bets on what we name our child.”

“It really isn’t anything to get upset about it. If anything people are probably more engaged in what we name the kid than what’s on television. We should feel honored they care that much.”

From Regina’s look Emma could tell she did not feel the same.

“You need to put a stop to it before it gets anymore out of hand,” Regina said.

Emma took a deep breath and exhaled. “If it bothers you that much I will put a stop to it.”

“Thank you.”

Regina turned back around and Emma went back to the massage. Several minutes went by when Regina again moved so she could face her.

“You bet in the pool didn’t you?”

“Maybe.”

“What name did you bet on?” Regina asked with more curiosity than anger in it.

“If it is a boy Jesse. If it is a girl Jessie.”

It was one of the few names that Emma felt like they hadn’t discussed yet.

“Jesse or Jessie,” Regina said thoughtfully before her features tightened a little. “How did you get to bet? Wouldn’t that be cheating since you are one of the people making the decision?”

“It would totally be cheating if anyone knew it was me who placed the bet. As it is, those names are under Ruby’s bet. We agreed to split the money if we win.”

“Well it is our child so it seems only fair if at least part of the money goes to us.”

“Does that mean the pool can keep going?” Emma said excitedly.

“I suppose. But that doesn’t mean we are naming our child Jesse or Jessie. When we do decide we will then place a bet, perhaps using someone other than Ruby. That arrangement has cheating written all over it.”


	33. Chapter 33

 

**Marriage day 400**

Emma was asleep when she felt the bed shift a little. She recognized the sounds of Regina getting out of bed. When she heard the bathroom door shut she knew her wife probably had to pee. She didn’t bother opening her eyes and she had actually drifted back to sleep entirely until she felt the bed shift again and it took her a moment to realize Regina must have returned to bed while she slept and was now getting back out of bed. When she again heard the bathroom door shut, a small smile graced her features. Little dude must be lying on the bladder big time, she thought.

 

**Marriage day 408**

Emma drove them home from their birthing class. They decided to do it one session and get it over with. Emma wasn’t actually sure of the point as she had gone through labor once and she was sure that Regina had read every book ever written on the subject. Emma felt like she was the odd man out actually and wondered if husbands felt that way with their wives. Her part of the whole thing was essentially being told to be there and comfort her wife.

It wasn’t as if Emma wanted to be part of the medical team delivering the child, but a little more action beyond hold your wife’s hand wouldn’t be a bad thing. She knew there was more to it than that as the nurse had talked to her about things to watch out for that might signal that Regina or the baby were in distress.

When she had Henry she didn’t have anyone at her side so maybe that was skewing how she viewed it all now.

Glancing over at Regina, she saw her wife stifle a yawn. The last several nights Regina had either been up multiple times to pee or couldn’t seem to get comfortable enough to sleep consistently. Emma had suggested she take a couple days off work and rest, but of course Regina refused. At least today being Saturday maybe she could talk her into at least taking a nap.

As if she wasn’t sure her wife was stubborn before this pregnancy seemed to ram it home for her. Regina simply refused to listen to Emma when she suggested that Regina slow down or take things easy.

When she saw Regina block yet another yawn she knew she was going to insist Regina take a nap even if she had to physically hold her down in bed until she slept. Actually, Emma thought, that wasn’t a bad idea at all.

They pulled down their street and Emma saw several cars she recognized parked along the street. “Why is my mom here?” she said seeing her car parked in the driveway.

“I don’t know,” Regina said but she kept her eyes focused on anything but Emma.

“Ok, you might as well tell me what is going on.”

“What?”

“I will keep driving and pass by the house.”

“Alright, just pull in.”

Emma started to pull in. “You have about five seconds to explain before I put this car in reverse.”

“It’s a baby shower. For you.”

“What? Shouldn’t it be a baby shower for you, you are the pregnant one?”

“Actually, I broached the subject with your mother several weeks ago that if you went to her in order to plan a baby shower to try and dissuade you.”

“Why would you do that?”

“Because I didn’t want one,” she said simply. “But when Snow suggested that since you missed out on having one for Henry that perhaps we could have one for you, I was supportive of the idea. Now we are going to walk in our home and you are going to act surprised.”

She leaned over and kissed her wife.

They got out of the car and walked in.

“Surprise!” The women who had gathered in their house yelled as they walked in. Emma feigned shock and was ushered into the living room where a congratulations banner has been hung up. Regina followed with Snow.

“She knew, didn’t she?” Snow asked.

“The cars outside gave it away. She asked me what was going on, I couldn’t lie.”

“You never could lie to Emma. At least not successfully.”

 

Emma leaned over to Regina who was sitting next to her on the couch nearly two hours later. “Now I can see why you didn’t want one of these,” she whispered while keeping a smile on her face.

Regina laughed a little. She was rather thankful that Emma was getting most of the attention and she was able to avoid some of the baby shower games like the bottle bowling. Although everyone got a kick out of the baby name game – everyone but Regina and Emma who were the butt of many jokes during it.

“It’s time to open gifts,” Snow said.

“Now this I can get into,” Emma said as she accepted the first gift.

 

After the shower was over and they had said goodbye to everyone but Snow, who stayed behind to help clean up, Emma wrapped her arms around Regina. “Thank you,” she said.

“You’re welcome,” Regina replied. “Now go thank your mom.”

“I will,” Emma said giving her a kiss and then bending down to kiss her stomach. “Hey little dude, why don’t you take mommy upstairs and make her take a nap?”

Regina rolled her eyes. “It’s a little late in the day for a nap.”

“I don’t care,” Emma said seriously. “You were tired before all of this so I can only imagine how you feel now.

“I am a little tired,” she conceded.

“Go upstairs. I will be up after I help mom clean up.”

They exchanged one more kiss and Regina went upstairs.

“You two are really happy,” Snow said.

“We are,” Emma said bending down and picking up some of the wrapping paper to throw away. “And I want to thank you for this. It was really great.”

“I was just happy that I was able to do this for you.”

“You know I did have one of these when I was pregnant with Henry.”

“You did?”

“Yeah, the whole cell block turned out. I didn’t really get any gifts, but we had an afternoon of fun,” Emma said. “This one I got to say was way better.”

“I am glad it lived up to standards,” Snow said.

“Really, this was amazing. Thank you.”

“You are welcome. I see you got Regina to go to sleep. I am surprised she got through that last 30 minutes.”

“Sleep has been a little rough the last week or so.”

“I remember what that was like,” Snow said. “You were a kicker.”

“I was?”

“Oh yeah. That last month it was like you were trying to kick your way out. Of course your father was amused by the whole thing and would place his hand on my stomach and laugh whenever you kicked. He swore you knew he was there and that was your way of saying hello to him.”

“I would keep my hand on Regina’s stomach all the time if she let me. Our kid is not much of a kicker so far. Regina claims he or she is, but whenever I try and catch a feel of it, little dude goes silent.”

“You do realize you will need to eventually give him or her a name.”

“Yes, we realize this and we are making progress.”

“How do you define progress?”

“She and I are both out of vetoes at this point.”

 

After her mom left Emma went upstairs to check on Regina. She opened the door to find her wife asleep on the bed. Regina had an arm wrapped around her own midsection as if to protect the precious life she carried inside of her.

Next to her wedding day, Emma wasn’t sure she had ever seen Regina look as beautiful as she did in that moment. She pulled out her phone and snapped a quick photo.

 


	34. Chapter 34

 

**Marriage day 422**

“Emma.”

No response.

“Emma.”

A slight shake accompanied this one, but still Emma remained asleep.

Regina who was sitting up in bed at this point knew she should feel guilty about what she was going to do next, but she figured she would get over of it.

“Emma!” she said louder this time. “The baby’s coming!”

Emma’s eyes flashed open and she rolled off the bed barely staying on her feet.

“Ok, don’t panic; we can do this. Let’s get you to the hospital,” Emma said looking around for her shoes.

“Do you think you can get me a glass of water? I drank the one from earlier,” Regina said.

Emma stopped looking for clothes and instead focused on her wife.

“The baby is not coming,” Emma said less as a question and more like a statement.

“No,” Regina said. “Sorry, but you weren’t waking up when I said your name and I was thirsty.”

Emma tossed the shoe she was holding to the floor. “Anything else besides water while I am down there?”

“No. Thank you.”

Emma left and came back up minutes later with a glass of water which Regina promptly took a small drink of and then put on the bedside table. Emma got back into bed, and Regina turned the light off again.

“Can we agree that you will never, ever do that again?” Emma said in the dark.

“Sorry.”

 

**Marriage day 425**

Regina got up from her desk chair and stood, stretching to help alleviate her lower back pain. She walked over to the window and stood there for a while just watching the world outside of her office. There were days that she was still amazed that she was here in Storybrooke.

Her journey to get here seemed unreal to her.

Here she was about to be a mother again.

She looked down at her extended tummy and ran her hand along it. Today the baby had been more active than usual. Even Emma had gotten the chance to feel some kicking this morning much to her delight. Regina was surprised she even made it to work because Emma wanted to lie there in bed all day just touching her belly and talking to their child.

There had been a lot of talking to the baby lately from Emma. The blonde was determined that this child would come out of the womb being able to recognize her voice. She and Henry already had a bet going to see which one of them the baby would end up talking to first.

Regina was perfectly content to sit back and let them make their bets, or make plans for the future. As long as Regina had her family that was all that mattered to her.

“You are going to love it out here,” Regina said to the baby. “There is a whole world out here for you to explore. And your mom and me and Henry, we are all going to be here waiting for you to join us.”

She had a doctor’s appointment just yesterday and everything was good heading into these final weeks.

It seemed like it was only yesterday that she and Emma had found out they were pregnant and now soon they would be able to hold their baby. Regina wiped a tear that had formed quickly in her eye. Her emotions were becoming harder and harder to keep under control and she worried because this was the time she needed to be the most in control. She took a deep breath to calm herself and then went back to her chair to finish up her work before the public service committee meeting she needed to go to at 5 p.m.

 

Later that night

Regina drove home feeling rather tired. A full day of work plus a two-hour committee meeting was enough for one day. She parked her car and headed toward the door only to see Emma and Henry, who was carrying bag, come bursting out the door and sprinting toward Emma’s car. Regina stopped unsure as to what the commotion was about and when she heard Emma call out a time she was even more confused.

Emma came walking up to her a little winded and gave her a kiss on the cheek. “Less than a minute. We are damn good.”

“Should I even ask what you are doing?”

“Well your little stunt the other night got me thinking that we need a plan of attack, more than one actually, on getting you to the hospital, so Henry and I have been drilling. We got a bag packed with what you might need going to the hospital so it can sit there at all times ready to go. We practiced what to do if you are in bed, or in the kitchen, what routes through the house to take. You know be prepared to get you to the hospital.”

“Oh, I see,” Regina said. “And you and Henry can get to the car with the bag in less than minute?”

“Yep, impressive isn’t it?”

“Highly,” Regina said, turning and walking once again toward the door before stopping. “That is if don’t take into consideration that in my current state there is no way I make it to the car in less than a minute and I am probably someone you might want to factor into your planning.”

She walked inside letting her wife and son figure it all out.

 

**Marriage day 437**

It was Emma’s favorite time of the day – night when Henry was in his room and she and Regina were in theirs. With Regina sitting there reading a book it left Emma with the free time to let her touch that baby bump and talk to her kid.

“I have a very important story to tell you tonight little dude,” Emma said. “Now I don’t want you to get scared by it. You just remember your mom is here to protect you. But I feel like you are old enough now to hear about the curse.”

Regina pushed aside her book and looked at Emma who was lying on her side so that her head was near Regina’s belly. Emma was propped up on an elbow with one hand on Regina.

“Emma,” Regina said cautiously. “I hardly think that is an appropriate story for our unborn child.”

“Little dude, one thing you will learn early on is that mom is the fun one, while your mother is not so much.”

Regina swatted Emma’s head with the book.   
”See what I mean, she also hits your mom.”

The comment earned her another hit. “Seriously Emma, I don’t think you should tell our child a story about the curse.”

“It will be fine,” Emma said. “You worry too much.”

“Fine,” Regina said bringing her book back up to read although she had no intention of reading it. Most nights like this she rarely got the chance to do any actual reading as she usually spent her time listening to Emma talk to the baby.

“Alright little dude, here we go,” Emma said. “It all started in 1918.”

“What?” Regina blurted in.

“Hey, I am telling a story here,” Emma said. “You just go back to your book.”

Regina again disappeared behind her book, which could have been upside down for all she paid attention to it.

“Sorry about that, but your mother likes to interrupt at times. But as I was saying it started in 1918 when our savior Babe Ruth pitched our Red Sox to the championship. It was glorious and everyone in the kingdom of Boston was so happy. Little did they know that dark days were ahead. It happened in 1920, when the evil king of the Red Sox Harry Frazee decided that he needed money to finance his musical theater productions so he sold the Babe to the evil empire known at the New York Yankees. Everyone knew that this was an injustice of great proportions and a curse settled over our Red Sox. It was the curse of the Bambino.”

“Despite attempts at recapturing glory, the curse would always get in our way. In 1946 when Johnny Pesky’s throw to home was too late, or 1975 when an improbable hero for the Cincinnati Reds Carlton Fisk hit a walk-off homer that set up a winner take all game 7 that our Red Sox lost. It was a dark time indeed.”

“But we of the Red Sox nation never lost faith that one day the curse would be broken and in 2004 we would meet a team that was almost as bad as the Yankees. They called themselves the St. Louis Cardinals. Twice in the past the Cardinals would deny us the chance to return to glory. But this time we would not be denied. With chants of Reverse the Curse, we overcame our enemies and became the World Series Champions.”

“Seriously?” Regina said.

“What?”

Regina rolled her eyes, “I am having serious second doubts about letting this child near you.”

“Oh whatever. You love me and you know it,” Emma said moving so she could give Regina a kiss.

“Well I might be persuaded to let you have some time with the child, but only if I get another kiss.”

Emma kissed her again more deeply and then added a couple of more pecks on the lips before she settled back down in her position.

“Ok, little dude, what story would you like to hear next? I know, how about the tale of the Field of Dreams.”

 

**Marriage day 440**

“Emma.”

She continued to sleep.

“Emma!”

“What?” Emma groaned.

“I think the baby is coming.”

“We talked about how this isn’t funny.”

“I’m not joking!”  
Emma heard the desperation in Regina’s voice and she got out of bed, turning on the light in the process.

One look at Regina and Emma knew she wasn’t joking.


	35. Chapter 35

 

**Marriage day 440 continued**

 

“You’re sure this is it?” Emma said as she pulled on her jeans, keeping an eye on Regina the entire time.

“The contractions have started,” Regina said; her voice a little more breathy than usual. “I waited to be sure before waking you.”

“Yeah, next time, no waiting,” Emma said pulling on her shirt and then realizing it was backward so she had to readjust. “How long ago did you start feeling them?”

“About 40 minutes ago.”

Emma wanted to scream at Regina for waiting that long, but she held her tongue. Regina was also getting dressed, although at a much slower pace than her wife. It was after 4 a.m. already and she knew the contractions and labor could go on for hours.

“I’m going to wake Henry,” Emma said. As soon as she reached the door and looked back at Regina she wished they had worked out a way to signal Henry to wake up without Emma having to leave Regina’s side. She knew it wasn’t a big deal to go wake Henry, but suddenly the idea of leaving Regina alone frightened her.

She ran to Henry’s door and pounded on it. “Hey kid, it’s go time. This is not a drill.”

She ran back to the bedroom trusting that Henry heard her as she was quite loud with the pounding and the message. Henry knew what to do and Emma had to trust him to do it.

“Do you need help?” Emma said.

“I am capable of getting dressed,” Regina replied. “But I could use some help with the shoes.”

Emma went to the closet and pulled out a pair of shoes, only for Regina to point out that they didn’t match what she was wearing and instructed her to get another pair. When she returned Regina was holding her belly and gritting her teeth. Emma recognized the signs of a contraction.

“Breathe,” Emma said when she saw Regina was actually holding her breath through it. Regina took a quick intake of air and breathed out.

The contraction passed finally and Emma looked at the clock. “How far apart was that?”

“About seven minutes or eight minutes.”

“Plenty of time,” Emma said reassuringly. “Your water hasn’t even broken yet.”

“About that, we’re taking your car not mine.”

“I thought you said you wouldn’t dare be transported to the hospital in the Bug.”

“Yes, well as you pointed out my water hasn’t broken yet and that is not going to happen in my car.”

Emma helped her get her shoes on and she heard Henry yell out that he was ready. He would be waiting at the bottom of the stairs with the bag they were taking to the hospital with them. They had decided early on in the drill phase to keep the bag stored downstairs to make it easier to grab.

“Ok, Ok, we got this,” Emma said, as she held Regina’s hand and led her from the room and down the stairs.

The doctor had told them to come to the hospital when the contractions were five to seven minutes a part so Emma wasn’t concerned that Regina was going to have the baby any minute. Still, she felt a sense of urgency that she had to tamper down in order not to rush her slow-moving wife down the stairs.

“Change of plan,” Emma said to Henry as they were almost down the stairs. “We are taking my car.”

“Why?”

“Because your mother is afraid of her water breaking in hers.”

“Well her car is nicer so that makes sense.”

Emma looked back at Regina. “He is so your child.”

Regina gave her a smile. “He is our child just as this one is.”

They got out to the car and as Henry helped his mother into it, Emma called the hospital to let them know they were on their way in so they could alert Dr. Andrews. When they got to the hospital she would call her parents. She would call them now, but she didn’t want a lecture from Regina about talking on the phone while driving her to the hospital.

Once they were all in, she glanced over one more time at Regina and then began to drive – make sure she didn’t speed as it would only cause Regina to either lecture or it would just cause her undo stress.

Emma really only had one job in all of this and that was to keep Regina as stress free and calm as possible throughout the labor and delivery. And Emma was determined she was going to succeed at that job.

When they arrived at the hospital, an orderly with a wheelchair came out and met them at the car. Emma helped Regina into it, and then told her she would be right back after she parked the car. She left Henry with Regina and then she did the quickest parking job of her life before running back into the hospital and catching up before they even had Regina fully in a room. Regina had another contraction in the car still just over seven minutes a part from the last one.

“We’re going to get your wife settled if you want to wait outside,” the nurse said. “Dr. Andrews will be here soon.”

“Oh, ok,” Emma said. She knew this would happen but somehow she hadn’t really thought of it. She looked at Regina. “I will be right out there for just a moment.”

“It’s ok,” Regina said sensing Emma’s hesitation to leave her. “Call your parents so Henry has someone to pass the time with.”

Emma nodded yes as she and Henry left the room. She called her parents immediately and they assured her they would be there shortly to sit with Henry and all she needed to do was concentrate on Regina and the baby.

“Are you nervous?” Henry asked her.

“Yeah kid, I am.”

“Why? I mean you went through this with me.”

“And if I was the one pregnant I would probably not be as nervous, but I am not. It’s like I am sure everything will be fine but it’s different when you have to be the one waiting, do you know what I mean?”

“I think so. All I get to do is wait so I’ve sort of been prepared for it.”

“So what do you think, boy or a girl?”

“Does it matter since you guys haven’t agreed on a name yet?”

“Shows you what you know, we have agreed.”

“Hey, you were supposed to run all final names by me.”

“You are out of vetoes so what does it matter?”

“It matters because if you give the kid a horrible name I am the big brother that is going to have to keep them being bullied all through school. Tell me what you decided on,” he said crossing his arms for emphasis.

“She and I may not have exactly agreed on a name yet, but we have until the baby gets here to decide so you are just going to have to trust us because I am not running out here to get your approval.”

“Why is this so hard?”

“I don’t know,” Emma said and she really didn’t. It was just that neither she nor Regina could agree. They had gone through hundreds of names some of which they both liked, but neither liked for their child. “But now we can’t really avoid the issue so let’s hope we don’t screw it up.”

The nurse came out to get Emma and she gave Henry a hug before entering the room.

Regina was now lying in bed in a hospital gown with all the monitors hooked up to her.

“Have the contractions gotten any closer?” Emma asked. She knew Regina must have had one while Emma was out of the room just based on the time that passed.

“No,” Regina said. “And my water hasn’t broken yet either. Do you think maybe this is just one of those false labors?”

“It could be,” Emma breathed out. “We won’t really know until the doctor gets here and checks you out.”

“I am going to be a little embarrassed if it isn’t the real thing.”

“Why would you be embarrassed?”

“I think I should know if it’s real labor or not.”

Emma got closer to the bed and leaned over and kissed Regina on the lips. “If it is the real thing, we are ready, if it’s not; we go home and back to sleep. It’s nothing to be upset or embarrassed about. Now the way I found out I was giving birth, that was embarrassing.”

Regina laughed a little. Emma had told her the story of when she was pregnant with Henry and how she was in the mess hall with the other women prisoners when her water broke.

“See now, that was embarrassing,” Emma said smiling at Regina’s smile.

There was a knock on the door and Dr. Andrews entered along with a couple of nurses. “You had to choose the dead of night, didn’t you?” she said to Regina.

“Sorry, I tried to tell her to wait,” Emma joked back.

“The nurse tells me you are seven minutes a part, is that right?” the doctor asked as she began checking the various monitors to make sure everything was in order.

“Yes,” Regina said.

“Alright then let’s see if you are dilated.”

Dr. Andrews took a seat to check and stood back up before speaking. “No dilation yet.”

“Does that mean I am not actually in labor?” Regina asked.

“Not necessarily,” she responded. “As I have said before every woman is different and your case in particular while it’s followed a normal course doesn’t mean that there won’t be some deviation. We will keep monitoring …”

Regina seized up as a contraction hit her. Emma grabbed her hand so Regina could squeeze it and Regina took full advantage of it.

“Seven minutes, five seconds since her last one,” the nurse announced once it passed.

“Like I was saying we will keep monitoring you. The fact that the contractions are coming in a steady pattern is a really good indication that you are in labor. Braxton Hicks contractions tend to be less predictable,” Dr Andrews said.

“But my water hasn’t broken and I am not dilated, shouldn’t that be concerning?” Regina asked.

Dr. Andrews gave her a reassuring smile. “No, it’s not a cause for concern. Some women’s water won’t break naturally. It’s something I can do if that is the route you decide is best. We can talk more about it later if necessary. The only thing I want the two of you to be concerned about is what you are going to name little dude when he or she gets here. On the way in here Henry let me know you haven’t decided yet. Well I would say the clock is ticking on that decision.”

“If it matters at all I have Melissa in the poll,” one of the nurses said.

“We will keep that in mind,” Emma said.

“I would tell you what I chose, but I had an unfair advantage of knowing the baby’s gender,” the doctor said.

“Wait, you got in on the poll?” Emma said.

“Hasn’t everyone in town?” she responded. “I understand your parents even placed a bet.”

Emma felt a tighter squeeze on her hand that had nothing to do with contractions.

Dr. Andrews gave the nurses some instructions on monitoring Regina and then left the two women alone for a bit.

“I totally forgot about the poll,” Emma said.

“Clearly,” Regina said.

“We do need to agree on a name.”

“I know.”

They were both silent up until the next contraction came – again seven minutes a part.

“This is going to take a while,” Emma said.

“Maybe you should go out there and make sure your parents are here. They could always take Henry home with them and come back later.”

“Do you really think that kid is going to let that happen?”

“I suppose not, but you should at least suggest it.”

“Fine, I will step outside, but I will be back before that next contraction.”

When Emma left, Regina leaned her head back against the bed. The contractions were uncomfortable, but she was expecting that. What she hadn’t really expected was the nerves she felt. She had read every thing she could get her hands on about maternity and giving birth, yet here she was now trying to remember what she had read was “normal.” She had expected her water to break and that to be the big sign of labor even though she knew she had read before that contractions could happen long before the water breaking.

She also felt bad for lying to Emma. It had been longer than 40 minutes before she had woken Emma. The truth was the contractions had started a few hours before she had woken Emma, but since they started out like 20 minutes a part she hadn’t said anything. All the books she had read had said that you didn’t need to go to the hospital until they were seven to five minutes a part. She hadn’t thought there was a reason to wake Emma until it was time to go to the hospital, but the closer she got to the seven minutes the more worried she had become about her water not breaking.

Emma came back in quick and Regina wondered if she should tell her.

“Yeah he isn’t going home or to my parents,” Emma said.

“He is so your child,” Regina said. “But your parents got here ok?”

“Yes they are here and ready for the long haul.”

“Speaking of the long haul, I lied to you earlier and I feel really bad about it.”

Regina went on to tell her about the contractions starting and how she hadn’t wanted to wake Emma, who was going to need her sleep, until it was time to go to the hospital.

“It’s ok,” Emma said, filing the information away to lecture Regina about it after the child was born. “I am glad you told me but it’s not a big deal. I should probably tell you something too.”

“What’s that?”

“My mom has Danielle in the poll and my dad has Noah.”

“Noah,” Regina said, considering the name. She was sure they had come across the name in one of the baby name books but she couldn’t remember discussing it.

“We’re not naming little dude after someone Russell Crowe played in a movie.”

“Ah yes now I remember your logic for not wanting to name him that. Perhaps you should have told your dad that.”

“Probably,” Emma shrugged. “Do you think we are having a boy?”

“I don’t know. Are you still glad we waited?”

“Yes. Think of how cool it’s going to be when the doc holds up our baby and pronounces it’s a he or a she. That’s a moment I want to remember forever.”

“Sometimes you say things and it makes me fall even more in love with you.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

Emma bent down to give her another kiss and another contraction came in the midst of it. Emma looked up at the monitor. “Six minutes, forty seconds,” she said. “They are getting closer.”

When the nurse came back in to check on Regina they let her know the contraction time was decreasing. Dr. Andrews came back in to check for dilation but there still wasn’t any. It was another hour and a half before Regina started to dilate and while it was a relief to her, she was also beginning to feel uncomfortable lying there. They let her get up out of bed a little bit before she was dilated, but her movement was restricted because of the monitors on her. The contractions felt like someone was stabbing her in the lower back and the pain would just spread from there. She was even beginning to feel sorry for squeezing her wife’s hand so much.

The contractions were only down to about five minutes when she did begin to dilate.

At one point they covered her up so Henry could come in and see her. He looked tired and she told him it would be ok if he wanted to go home with his grandparents and sleep for a bit. He of course refused.

Even Dr. Whale came in when he got on shift to check on her.

Regina was still glad he wasn’t her doctor – if only because she couldn’t help but feel embarrassed that he knew Emma had been fucking her with a strap on to make her become pregnant. That was a detail that she hadn’t really wanted shared with anyone.

Her water broke finally when she was at three centimeters. Unlike the portrayals on television or how Emma described her own water breaking, most women experienced more of a trickle than a gushing of fluid.

When she was at four centimeters Dr. Andrews declared she was in active labor. Regina wanted to ask what the last two hours were if not active labor but she held her tongue. She knew it was more of a reaction to her own discomfort. The doctor had asked her if she wanted an epidural, but Regina said no. She knew it would ease her pain but she wasn’t willing to risk the baby in anyway.

More hours passed – without a resolution to the naming issue – when it was past noon and Regina wanted nothing more than to give birth so she could sleep. She was tired, uncomfortable and sweaty. She was trying to remain nice but it was becoming a challenge.

“You’re at 10 centimeters,” Dr. Andrews said after 1 p.m.

Ten centimeters, that was the magic number Regina had been waiting to hear. She was now fully dilated.

Emma kept a hold of Regina’s hand. “You’re doing amazing,” she said. She had said a variation of this phrase repeatedly already, but she felt the need to give Regina constant reassurance. She looked down at her wife, whose hair was damp with sweat and who was in constant pain at this point as she pushed when the doctor instructed and Emma could only stand there in awe of such a beautiful sight.

“I can see the head,” Dr. Andrews said. “We’re almost there Regina. Push.”

Regina groaned as she pushed.

“Little dude is almost here,” Emma proclaimed.

“Just pick a name,” Regina breathed out, looking up at her.

“What?”

“I named Henry, you choose.”

“But we were supposed to decide together.”

“Push, Regina,” Dr. Andrews interrupted.

“I trust you, just choose,” Regina said after she was done pushing.

Emma felt panicked. The baby was moments from getting here and she couldn’t even think of any names at this point.

“Come on, give me another push Regina.”

Emma started to laugh, earning her a look from Regina. “I have no idea what to call little dude.”

“Anything but little dude,” Regina replied.

“One more big push.”

Regina squeezed hard as she pushed and Emma watched as the nurse came forward to assist the doctor. Then there was the noise, the slight coughing sound and a cry as the baby’s mouth was cleared.

“Congratulations moms, you have a baby boy.”

“Little dude is a dude,” Emma said excitedly as their boy came into view. The nurse took the baby over to the small station to clean him off and wrap him in a blanket. Emma walked over and then the nurse gently placed him in her arms. She looked down at that little face and she felt a tear come down her cheek.

She hadn’t gotten the chance to hold Henry when he was born because of her own actions but here she was getting another opportunity.

For a moment she was lost in her own world looking at her son.

Then she looked up at her exhausted wife and smiled.

“You did it.”

“We did it,” Regina said. “Now what are we going to name him?”

 


	36. Chapter 36

 

**Marriage day 440 continued**

 

Emma looked down at her son once again. Her son. Like Henry, this little guy was hers too. Even if she wasn’t the one who gave birth to him she felt the connection with him immediately. All those nights where she laid in bed talking to Regina’s belly so the child would know he had two mommies and now here he was.

She laughed out loud.Now she needed to give him a name.

A beeping sound forced her to tear her eyes away from her son and she looked to see Regina was laying there, her eyes closed. Dr. Andrews was giving orders to the nurse, as she remained between Regina’s legs.

“What’s wrong?” Emma asked.

The doctor didn’t answer as she was too busy working on Regina. Before a nurse guided Emma back, she could see blood dripping on the floor. Emma stood there holding the baby, not registering the words being said as she watched her wife’s face, willing Regina to open her eyes.

Even as Dr. Andrews told the nurse to warn emergency that they were bringing in a female who had just given birth and was bleeding out, Emma stood there holding on to that tiny life in her hands. The nurse and Dr. Andrews released the locks on the hospital bed’s wheels and only when they were transporting Regina from the room did Emma slowly come back to her senses.

“Where are they taking her? What’s happening?”

“Please Emma,” the nurse said. “Give me the baby and then you go to check on your wife.”

Emma looked down at the boy in her arms. She didn’t want to give him to the nurse. She was supposed to give him a name. Regina should have been able to hold him by now.

“Mom!”

Emma saw Henry in the doorway with her parents.

“Where are they taking mom? What’s going on?”

“I don’t know,” she said, gently handing the baby to the nurse. She went up Henry. “We need to go to the emergency area, that’s where they took her. She was bleeding and I don’t think they could get it to stop.”

She glanced back once more at her other son who was being placed on a portable basinet by the nurse. This wasn’t happening, her mind told her. Regina had been smiling at her. She asked her what she was going to name the baby.

She realized her parents were saying something, but she pushed by them intent on finding out where Regina was and if she was alright. She had to be alright.

 

Emma found Dr. Andrews coming out of a set of double doors.

“What’s wrong with Regina?” Emma said.

“It’s called post-partum bleeding. It can happen after a woman gives birth, but Regina would be considered at low risk for it. It almost always happens in women who have C-sections. It can happen in the first 24 hours after giving birth, but this was almost immediate,” she explained. “It could be a blood clot or a tear in the uterus. We got her into surgery to find the cause.”

“How dangerous is it?”

“She’s in good hands.”

Emma knew that was exactly the kind of answer that doctors gave when they didn’t want to give a bad answer.

“How dangerous is it?” Emma repeated.

Dr. Andrews reached out and put her hand on Emma’s forearm. “It can be fatal, but you can’t think about that. I gave her an immediate dose of oxytocin but I couldn’t isolate where the bleeding was coming from which is why I gave the order for surgery. You have to believe she’s going to be okay. Now I need to go back and check on your son. They will page me if there is any news and if I hear anything before you, I will be right back here to tell you and explain anything that needs explaining.”

Emma wasn’t even listening to that last part as her mind was still stuck on “it can be fatal.”

She felt another person’s hand on her and she was directed over to a chair to sit down.

“She’s going to be okay,” Henry said as he sat beside her.

“Henry’s right,” Snow said. “Regina is a fighter and she isn’t going to let anything keep her from you and Henry and the baby.”

“We had a boy,” Emma said. “We had a boy.”

 

Snow and Charming looked at their new grandson through the glass partition of the nursery. The card on the basinet merely said baby Swan-Mills. They hadn’t named him yet so that is what the placard said for now. Charming reached for and took his wife’s hand in his.

“We may not get the chance to spoil him as his parents will probably beat us to it,” he said.

“He should be resting in his basinet in a room with Regina and Emma,” Snow said.

“He should be and he will. You said it yourself, Regina is a fighter.”

“It’s not fair,” Snow said. “After all Regina has done and been through, she finally gets to experience love again and now this. What if she doesn’t make it? Emma will be devastated and Henry …”

“Hey, don’t even think it.”

“She has been in surgery for an hour. If it this was something simple they would be done by now.”

“You don’t know that. You don’t know that they aren’t merely taking their time to make sure they don’t miss anything. The fact she is still in surgery is a good thing because it means she’s still alive. She will hold that boy in there in her arms, of that I have no doubt.”

“Since when did you become the optimist in the family?” she asked giving him a faint smile.

“I thought I always was.”

 

Emma was pacing in front of the chairs, unable to sit any longer. Each time those double doors opened she kept expecting someone to come toward her, but they didn’t until nearly an hour and half had passed by.

Dr. Whale and Dr. Andrews, who had gone back in to check on Regina, came out. Emma felt a little relief wash over her as Andrews was smiling.

“Regina came through surgery fine,” she said.

“What happened?” Emma asked.

“There was a small tear in her uterus,” Dr. Whale said. “It took us a while to find it but we did and it’s been repaired. Now she lost a lot of blood so we have been giving her a transfusion. They are moving her to a room now and then you can go see her.”

“But she’s going to be ok?” Emma asked hesitantly.

“Yes, she’s going to be fine,” he said.

Emma couldn’t help herself as she gave both doctors a hug – a shock to Dr. Whale based on the look on his face. She slumped into one of the chairs, exhaustion hitting her finally.

“We could probably find an empty bed around here if you want to get a nap in,” Snow said.

“No, I am not sleeping until I see my wife and baby boy.”

“You never said what you named him,” Henry commented.

Emma looked at her parents.

“You haven’t chosen a name yet, have you?” Henry said.

“Hey I was a little busy being worried about your mother, cut me some slack.”

“You’ve had nine months.”

She looked at him. “I have a name picked out, but I would like to run it by Regina first. Could you imagine her reaction if I named the kid something that she absolutely dreaded. She would drag us to court to get it changed.”

“I don’t know, the last time we were all in court together, it turned out ok,” he smiled.

“I can’t argue with that.”

 

**Marriage day 441**

Regina opened her eyes to see the most beautiful sight – Emma walking back and forth with their child in her arms.

“Hey look who is awake,” Emma said coming closer to the bed. “It’s mommy. See, I told you she would wake up.”

Emma held him so Regina could reach out and touch him.

“He is so cute,” Regina said. “Did I fall asleep or something?”

Emma smiled. “Not exactly. You gave us all quite a scare, didn’t she?” Emma said talking to the baby. “Mommy was asleep for so long, but you weren’t worried, no you weren’t because your mom told you that mommy would wake up.”

“Emma,” Regina said, noticing for the first time the IV in her arm. “What happened?”

“You had a tear in your uterus and you were bleeding a lot. They had to take you into surgery to get you patched up. You’ve been asleep since yesterday. But it’s ok, isn’t it little dude? Mommy’s going to be perfectly fine.”

“Please tell me you didn’t name our child Little Dude while I was asleep?”

“I did not. In fact I haven’t officially filled out the paperwork to give him a name yet. I thought I should wait on you.”

“I told you that I trusted you to make that decision.”

Emma readjusted the baby in her arms. “Mommy says that but if I had actually called you Little Dude, she would be very, very cross with me. And you don’t want to see mommy cross trust me.”

Regina couldn’t help but smile at the way Emma was talking to the baby.

“Where’s Henry?” Regina asked.

“At my parent’s, hopefully asleep. It’s like 5:30 in the morning,” Emma said.

“Have you gotten any sleep?”

“A little in that chair over there while you were sleeping, but our son wants to be held so I am up.”

“Do you think I can hold him?”

“I don’t know,” Emma said. “You’ve held him for like nine months so I think it’s only fair that I get to hold him at least that long.”

“Emma.”

“Do you want mommy to hold you?” Emma asked the baby. “You do, ok, well then I guess it will be ok.”

Emma gently passed him over to Regina who smiled down at him before looking up at Emma. “He looks like Henry.”

“You think so?”

“Yes,” she said. “It’s the eyes. They are just like Henry’s.”

“He seemed to think so too.”

“I can’t believe I missed Henry seeing his brother for the first time. How did he do holding him?”

“He did great. And don’t worry; we have pictures and a video of it. Speaking of which, we need to document this occasion.”

Emma pulled out her phone and took a photo for Regina holding the baby.

“Seriously though, what are we naming him?”

Emma came up to the bed and put her hand on Regina’s shoulder. “I was thinking Bodie Michael, if that is ok with you.”

“Bodie Michael,” Regina said looking at him. “I love it.”

“You do?”

“It’s perfect. He is perfect.”

“You say that now, but there will be crying later, and probably a lot of dirty diapers and late night and early morning feedings.”

“I know,” Regina said smiling. “I can’t wait.”

Emma smiled at her and then bent down and kissed her on the top of her head. “Me neither.”


	37. Chapter 37

 

**Marriage day 805**

Emma pulled Bodie’s hand out of his birthday cake and began to clean it off, despite his crying protest to the entire process.

“Hey kid, there is no need to cry, the cake will still be there when I get you cleaned up,” she said.

“You realize that is a lost cause, right?” Henry said as he videoed the entire encounter. “He’s just going to play with the cake anyway.”

“Yes but the goal is to get him to eat something at some point and he has already destroyed half of his cake.”

Bodie cried some more as Emma finally got his hand clean and he immediately grabbed for the cake again, but Emma stopped him which caused more crying.

“Just let him have his fun. He is only going to turn one once,” Henry said. “Stop being such a parent.”

“Fine,” Emma said releasing Bodie’s hand. “But you can give him his bath tonight and lay him down to sleep.”

“You hear that Bodie,” Henry said. “Tonight instead of some boring kid’s story you get to hear the latest Avengers comic.”

“Don’t let Regina catch you reading those to your little brother.”

“He likes it.”

“What does he like?” Regina asked coming back over to the table.

“Clearly not any of his gifts,” Henry said. “But he is sure going to town on that cake.”

Bodie was pounding his little fist into it over and over again.

“I tried to get him to stop,” Emma said.

“It’s fine,” Regina smiled. “He only turns one once.”

“That’s what I said,” Henry said. “See great minds think alike.”

Emma stood up from her chair. “Where did you disappear to?” she asked Regina.

“I was talking to your mother,” she responded.

“What about?”

“About watching Bodie for us in a few weeks. I would like to take my wife out of town for a couple of days of alone time.”

“I will have to check my schedule, but I am sure we can arrange something,” Emma said giving her a kiss.

“See Bodie, that is how it starts,” Henry said. He had put down his phone and was now holding his brother. “First they start kissing and then they go away for some alone time and then the next thing you know one of them will be pregnant. Now I know what you are thinking, wouldn’t that be cool because you would get to be a big brother just like me. But I am telling you kid, you don’t want to risk it. I mean what if that next kid is a girl.”

“Stop it,” Emma said swatting Henry’s arm. “Sooner or later he is actually going to start understanding the words that come out of your mouth.”

“Girls bad,” Henry said to Bodie, who reached up and tried grabbing Henry’s mouth with his cake filled hand. Henry pretended to take a bite of cake from Bodie’s hand, causing his little brother to laugh.

Regina put her arm around Emma as they watched their sons interacting. She leaned over and whispered. “You know, we have talked about having another child closer in age to Bodie.”

“I told you I am up for trying whenever and wherever, just say the word.”

“Actually,” Regina said. “I was thinking this time around we could see if I can impregnate you.”

“Like I said, whenever and wherever.”

 

Later that night

Regina woke and realized she was alone in bed. She was tired after the long day of Bodie’s birthday party. The house had been packed with people and the clean up had taken a long time.

Even Henry went to bed early that evening after such a long day.

She got up and left the room knowing where Emma was at. She opened the door to the nursery and stood in the doorway watching Emma as she was in the process of putting Bodie back down into the crib. Regina walked over and stared down at him. She still couldn’t believe how much he looked like Henry at that age.

“He got a little fussy,” Emma said quietly.

“I am not surprised. Today was a big day for him and he didn’t want to take his nap earlier.”

“I love watching him sleep.”

Emma didn’t need to tell her that. When they first brought Bodie home from the hospital, it seemed like all Emma did was watch him even as he slept for stretches at a time. Sometimes Regina had to remind herself that this was all new to Emma. She hadn’t experienced all of this with Henry.

She took a hold of Emma’s hand and pulled her toward the door.

“Let’s let him sleep.”

“Ok,” Emma said reluctantly. “I can’t believe he’s a year old now.”

“I know, it seems like yesterday that we brought him home from the hospital.”

They stopped in the doorway and Emma pulled her wife in for a hug and kiss. “I love you.”

“I love you too.”

“No, I really love you.”

Regina laughed, “I know this.”

“I know, but I don’t ever want to forget to say it to you.”

Regina kissed her this time and then pulled her from the baby’s room. “Why don’t you come to bed and show me how much you love me?”

 


End file.
